TRIENNIAL REPORT
ON
VACCINATION IN BURMA
FOR THE YEARS 1899-1900—1901-02.
Statement I.
1899-1900
1900-1901
1901-1902
Year.
... ...
... ...
... ...
Average
District Superintendents
(Civil Surgeons).
38
38
38
38
Native
Superintendents.
14
14
14
14
Vaccinators.
195
192
194
194
DURING the triennium under report no change was made in the constitution -
of the Department
save in the number
of vaccinators as
shown in the mar-
gin, and the aver-
age for the three
years compared
with previous trien-
nium shows an increase of 3 Superintendents and 19 Vaccinators. A vaccinator
has been employed in the Chin Hills since November 1901.
A re-organization scheme was submitted during the year but did not meet
with the approval of Government.
Statement I.
Year.
1899-1900 ... ...
1900-1901 ... ...
1901-1902 ... ...
Primary.
456,762
385,652
329,686
Re-vaccination.
34,125
34,809
23,290
Total.
490,887
410,461
352,976
2. General results during the triennium.—The total number of operations
performed during
the triennium was
1,254,324 as com-
pared
with
1,302,939 in the
previous three
years or a decrease of 48,615.
Primary vaccination.—The number of primary operations was 1,172,100, or
57,934 less than in the previous triennium, and the percentage of success was
92.47 against an average of 93.94.
Re-vaccination.—The number of re-vaccinations rose from 72,905 in the
period 1896—1899 to 82,224 in 1899—1902, but the rate of success fell from 60.07
to 54.23, a rate which is, I consider, still too high. Opinion evidently differs as to
what is successful re-vaccination and what percentage of these operations ought
to reach a certain standard, but no such standard has been laid down by author-
ity. In the majority of persons the regular phenomena of vaccination can only
be produced once in a life-time, any subsequent introduction of vaccine lymph
either failing to produce any local effect whatever, or producing a modified effect
resembling one of the forms of spurious vaccination (Seaton's Hand-book of Vacci-
nation). Thus the immediate result of the performance of re-vaccination may be
either the typical vaccine vesicle, the modified vesicle or papule, or total failure.
It is only in a minority of the operations that the same degree of success is
attained as in primary vaccination and some twenty years' experience as a Super-
intendent of Vaccination leads me to put down 25 per cent. as about the limit of
perfect success in re-vaccination, a similar rate for modified results and 50 per
cent. for failure. As there is no column in the returns for modified success some
Superintendents do not discriminate between the modified and perfect vesicle, but
lump the two together as successful, whilst others, with perhaps better judgment,
allow only the perfect vesicle to be shown as successful. My experience was
with pure lymph, direct from the calf to the arm of the subject, so there could be
no question of the lymph being inert, and the work inspected by myself and my
Superintendents over a series of years rarely produced more than 25 per cent. of
success in re-vaccination, that is, the appearances were such as one is accustomed
to see in infants after successful primary vaccination.