NOTES ON VACCINATION

                                                        IN THE

        PROVINCE OF EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM

                                                FOR THE YEAR

                                     1909-1910.

1. Introductory.

Lieutenant-Colonel E. C. Hare, I.M.S., held charge of the Department from the
1st April 1909 to 8th May 1909, Captain C. A. Gourlay, I.M.S., from the 9th to 14th
May 1909, and Major E. Wilkinson, I.M.S., from 16th May 1909 to the end of the
year.                                                                                                             

The office of Deputy Sanitary Commissioner was held by Captain C. A. Gourlay,
I.M.S., from 1st April 1909 to 5th November 1909, and by Captain T. C. McCombie
Young, I.M.S., from 6th November to the end of the year.

2.   Vaccination agencies.

Vaccination was carried on by 1,164 departmental vaccinators, of whom 292 were
paid and 872 licensed.

3.  Total number of operations.

Excluding 7,547 secondary operations, 1,457,054 operations (which represent the
total number of persons vaccinated) were performed during the year, of which 1,294,151
were primary and 162,903 revaccination cases.

The total consists of :—

There was thus an increase of 7,396 operations over those returned in the previous
year. While there was an increase of 62,624 in revaccinations, there was a decrease of
55,228 in primary operations.

4.   Deaths from small-pox.

The total number of deaths from small-pox during the year was 22,289, yielding
a ratio of .72 per mille, against .39 of the previous year. There was a sharp epidemic
during the year, which chiefly affected the districts of Nowgong (3.49), Rangpur (3.45),
Bogra (3.25), Dinajpur (1.53), Darrang (1.22) and Kamrup (1.07). In the district
of Nowgong, however, there is a suspicion that deaths from measles were recorded as
small-pox. Vaccination was pushed on vigorously in the affected localities and- the
number of vaccinators and inspecting officers increased where necessary.

5.  Dispensary vaccination.

3,309 persons were vaccinated during the year under report against 4,587 return d
in 1908-1909, showing a decrease of 1,278.

6.  Percentage of successful operations.

Excluding unknown cases, the percentages of success obtained in operations
performed by the departmental vaccinators were 96.29 in primary and 76.01 in revacci-
nation cases ; and in the case of operations performed at Dispensaries, 91.89 and 79.95,
respectively.

7.  Methods of vaccination.

Glycerinated vaccine manufactured by the Shillong Vaccine Depôt was exclusively
used in all operations.