7
19.6 per cent., but factories, steamers,
dispensaries
and
jails
reported
increases.
7. Potection afforded to Infants.—
Although the number of available
infants successfully vaccinated decreas-
ed by 41,775 (or 13.3 per cent.) as com-
pared with the previous year, the rate
of success was higher, being 273.4 per
mile in the year 1926-27, against 269.5
in the preceding year. In the rural
areas, this rate was 249 .7 against 253 .3;
in the mufassal Municipalities, 589.2
against 482.4 ; and in Calcutta, 1,664.7
against 960.7. An analysis of
the
figures of the various districts shows
that only in three
districts—Malda,
Rajshahi and Darjeeling—the propor-
tion of such successfully
vaccinated
infants was over 500 per mille, against
four—Malda, Rajshahi, Darjeeling and
and Jalpaiguri—during the
previous
year. In seven districts the proportion
was between 300 and 400 per mille, in
eight between 200 and 300 per mille, in
seven others between 100 and 200 per
mille, while in the remaining two dis-
tricts—Bogra and Bakarganj—it was
77.3 and 33.4 per mille respectively.
8. Recess Vaccination.—Although the
Bengal
Vaccination Act, 1880, as
amended up to date, does not recognise
or prescribe any vaccination or recess
season, as in the India Vaccination Act,
1883, the differentiation is recognised
in actual practice based on the statutory
rules and executive orders. The total
number of operations performed during
the recess
season of
1926-27 was
393,875 (primary 113,119 and re-vacci-
nations 280,756), against 365,374 (pri-
mary
118,606 and
re-vaccinations
246,698) operations during the prece-
ding year, showing an increase of
28,571, for which the prevalence of
small-pox was surely responsible.
9. Six-puncture
Vaccination.—
During 1926-27, only 73,514 six-punc-
ture vaccinations were
performed,
against 115,902 during the preceding
year. This gradual decrease noticed
year after year is due to its unpopu-
larity with the parents of the children
and to the failure of the vaccinators to
impress upon the former its utility in
securing an area of the foveated scar
just necessary to confer immunity
against small-pox.
10. Cost and Contribution towards
Vaccination.—The total cost of vacci-
nation during the year 1926-27 was Rs.
4,52,819-14-9, of which Rs. 164 841-6
was contributed from provincial revenues,
Rs. 1,69,685-2-9 from district funds and
Rs. 118,293-6 from municipal funds,
against Rs. 4,52,901-13-4, Rs. 2,16,868-
1-4, Rs. 1,64,908-14-9 and Rs. 71,124-
13-3, respectively, in
1925-26. The
chief increase in expenditure by the
Municipalities is noticeable in Calcutta
—Rs. 88,361 against Rs. 47,674 during
the previous year. The Local Govern-
ment repeated the annual contribution
of Rs. 50,000 to assist the provision of
free vaccination against small-pox. The
average cost of each successful case was
2 annas
11 pies
during
the year
against 3 annas 2 pies during the previ-
ous year.
11. Diagram
illustrating
Death
Rates from Small-pox and the Degree of
Protection afforded since the year 1917-
18.—The death rates from small-pox in
each district and the proportion of popu-
lation protected against the disease by
vaccination during the past ten years
are shown side by side in the diagram
printed overleaf.
12. Deaths from Small-pox.—Deaths
from small-pox
numbered
31,936,
against 18,618 in 1925-26 and 10,443 in
1924-25. The disease was prevalent in
almost all the districts. The largest
number of deaths was reported from
Pabna (4,295) followed by Midnapur
(3,258), Murshidabad (3,101), 24-Par-
ganas (2,540), Calcutta (2,401), Howrah
(1,944), Burdwan 1,814), Bogra (1,610),
Mymensingh (1,581), Birbhum (1,387),
Rangpur (1,324), Hooghly (797), Dinaj-
pur (686), Dacca (669), Tippera (635),
Chittagong (592), Malda (552), Nadia
(479), Jessore (477), Noakhali (403),
Faridpur (377), and Bankura (375).
In the remaining four districts (Khulna,
Rajshahi, Jalpaiguri and Bakarganj),
it was between 100 to 200. Darjeeling
reported only seven deaths. From the
local reports, it appears that the quin-
quennial outbreak of small-pox, which
started in December 1924, continued its
ravages throughout the year 1925 and
1926 and exacted the heaviest toll from
November 1926 to May 1927. The
Public Health Department co-operated
with the district
health staff in the
attempts to arrest the progress of the
disease. On the recommendation of the
Director of Public Health, the Local
Government sanctioned an additional
grant for the appointment of extra vacci-
nators by those District Boards in whose
areas the epidemic was severe. The
two Inspectors of the Public Health