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It will be seen from the above table that only a relatively small percentage
of infants are immunised against smallpox. This is probably due in part to the
innate objection to inoculation of any sort and it is also due to a certain extent
to the absence of bad cases of smallpox which normally stir up fear among
parents ; further, parents may have been influenced by the reports in the papers
of complications from vaccination. It is well, however, to point out that serious
complications are practically non-existent if vaccination is first performed
under six months of age, and similarly complications do not occur in children or
adults who are re-vaccinated, having been vaccinated in infancy. Complications
however are possible, and do occur from time to time, in primary vaccinations
done over the age of six months, and in fact are more common the older the
person is. If therefore there should be an outbreak of virulent smallpox in the
future and a large number of children and adults are vaccinated for the first
time as the result of this, there may be cases of bad complications. This can be
avoided by having the baby vaccinated before six months of age.
Disinfection.
In cases of infectious disease, rooms, clothing, etc., are disinfected—
rooms by sealing and fumigating with formalin or a formalin preparation;
clothing, bedding, etc., and infected articles which can be removed for steam
disinfection by treatment in the disinfector at the hospital.

The following articles were destroyed: 24 mattresses, 8 bolsters, 4 sheets,
10 pillows, 4 blankets, 1 eiderdown, 150 articles of clothing.
Cancer.
It will be seen by the table of causes of death (page11) that in 1937
70 cases (42 males, 28 females) died from cancer. The following table shows
the number of deaths from cancer (male and female), the estimated population
of the district, and the deaths from cancer per 1,000 population since 1922. It
will be seen that in 1937 there was an increase in the cancer mortality.
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