H—3l
Venereal Diseases. —The following table shows the numbers of persons attending the venereal-disease clinics for the years 1942-47
Table I.—Number of Persons Seen for First Time and Found to be Suffering from Syphilis
Table II.—Number of Persons Seen for the First Time and Found to be Suffering from Gonorrhœa
The increase in male patients suffering from gonorrhoea noted in last year's report has unfortunately persisted. Before an improvement can be expected, more thorough investigation into the sources of infection would seem to be necessary. Unfortunately, the staff of some clinics are not sufficiently seized with the importance of this feature of venereal-disease control. No other notifiable disease calls for special mention, as tuberculosis and puerperal sepsis are referred to elsewhere. Non-notifiable Infectious Diseases. —Diseases such as measles, whooping-cough, chickenpox, and mumps are not compulsorily notifiable, because many patients are not seen by a doctor and the ordinary system of notification would be so ineffective as to be valueless. Recently an attempt has been made to invite voluntary notification by school-teachers of school-children who are known to be affected. Printed cards were distributed to schools, and head teachers were asked to send the Medical Officer of Health a weekly return. The system worked satisfactorily in many districts, but in some districts, notably Auckland, the co-operation of the teachers could not be obtained. Consideration was given to making the notification compulsory, but the general opinion among Medical Officers of Health after this trial was that the comparatively small value of the returns would not justify their being made compulsory. Infectious Diseases in Maoris. —The incidence of infectious disease in Maoris is shown in Table D. Little comment is called for, as in the case of most diseases the incidence is less than in recent years. The only marked exception is bacillary dysentery,
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Year. Auckland. Wellington. Christchurch. Dunedin. Total. Grand Totals. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. 1942 70 78 53 71 18 11 20 6 161 166 327 1943 48 95 20 41 17 14 29 3 114 153 267 1944 21 48 14 26 14 10 27 4 76 88 164 1945 61 34 11 20 15 8 27 6 114 68 182 1946 77 26 20 25 25 13 30 4 152 68 220 1947 58 52 7 28 16 5 26 4 107 89 196
Year. Auckland. Wellington. Christchurch. Dunedin. Total. Grand Totals. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. M. F. 1942 312 286 236 63 181 69 75 73 804 491 1,295 1943 265 441 138 89 122 92 51 15 576 637 1,213 1944 215 470 140 59 139 86 50 22 544 637 1,181 1945 389 413 178 54 149 66 46 9 762 542 1,304 1946 639 329 235 42 168 31 115 13 1,157 415 1,572 1947 623 303 262 41 168 27 53 19 1,106 390 1,496