Public Health Investigation in India

Abstract

Two Indian institutes have recently issued their reports. That of the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta, for 1935 reviews the courses of instruction that have been given and summarizes the research work carried out. The last-named includes epidemiological studies on cholera and studies upon the chemical constitution of the cholera vibrios by Dr. Linton, the epidemiology of epidemic dropsy and the aetiology of black-water fever. Diet surveys of certain sections of the population and field studies upon malaria have also been carried out. The second report, that of the Haffkine Institute, summarizes the Institute's work for 1932-35. Plague investigations have been continued, and more than two million doses of plague vaccine were issued in 1933-34; Drs. Sokhey and Maurice have prepared a curative plague serum which experimentally possesses greater potency than any sera previously prepared. Anti-rabic treatment is also provided at the Institute, and 2,274 cases were treated during 1935, with a mortality rate of 0.17 per cent.