REPORT
ON
VACCINATION IN BURMA
For the year 1890-91.
LOWER BURMA.
A DETAILED report on vaccination was submitted last year and the follow-
ing brief note is intended to explain, where necessary, the figures in the pre-
scribed forms. The population dealt with is that determined by the Census of
February 1891.
2. Statement I.—The total number of vaccine operations performed in
1890-91 is nearly 20,000 in excess of the number of the previous year. There
is a slight decrease in the number of operations performed in Irrawaddy and an
increase in the other three divisions. By far the greatest actual increase is in
Pegu, although relatively to the numbers Arakan is not far behind.
3. The excess in the number of males vaccinated over females is mainly
due to vaccination of coolies in Rangoon Town. A large number of these oper-
ations are no doubt primary vaccinations of adults, but in the absence of any
certain information they are described as cases of re-vaccination.
4. The average number of operations performed by each vaccinator in the
province is slightly increased. The increase is due to the greater amount of
work done in Pegu for, although there is an improvement in Arakan, the aver-
age has fallen off in Irrawaddy and Tenasserim.
5. There is an increase in the number of operations in every district except
four. Hanthawaddy heads the list with an increase of 10,566. This is due,
however, to the inclusion of Rangoon Town. In the district (Hanthawaddy)
itself there is a slight falling off, ascribed to there being a large number of
private vaccinators, whose operations are not recorded. Next comes Amherst
(5,663), Prome (3,950), Akyab (3,836), and Shwegyin (1,344).
6. The greatest number of operations was performed in Hanthawaddy in-
cluding Rangoon Town (43,308), Prome (13,998), and Amherst (13,160).
7. There is a marked decrease in Toungoo, 4,351 against 8,905 in 1889-90
and 5,126 in 1888-89. The large number in 1889-90 was due to the fact that,
the Vaccination Act having been newly introduced, the people in Toungoo itself
and the neighbouring villages had all their children vaccinated. The decrease
this year is considered by the Civil Surgeon to be in a great measure due to the
fact that smallpox was less prevalent in the district.
In Henzada district there is a falling-off of 1,836 compared with the figures
of 1889-90, but there is an increase over the figures of 1888-89 by 1,075. The
Civil Surgeon does not satisfactorily account for the decrease this year.
The number of operations performed in Sandoway was 2,806 against 4,249
in 1889-90 and 2,591 in 1888-89. The falling off is ascribed by the Civil Sur-
geon to the disturbed state of the district and to the prevalence of sickness
among children during the monsoon.
There is a serious and unexplained falling off in the returns from the Sal-
ween Hill Tracts.
8. The percentage of success in primary vaccination is 85.38 against 86.10
in 1889-90 and 86.14 in 1888-89.
The degree of success attained ranged from 97.20 in Toungoo, 92.78 in
Shwegyin, and 91.87 in Hanthawaddy to 70.90 in Tharrawaddy, 60.95 in Sando-
way, and 47.78 in the Salween Hill Tracts.
9. There were 13,827 more cases of secondary vaccination than during the
previous year, but the percentage of success fell from 69.73 to 61.03.