wwe - a at ee ee ' a2 om ee en nhs ee re e 2135- GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES Amoebiasis/Dysentary/Gastroenteritis The Trust Territory reports a high incidence rate for amoebiasis, 3,595 per 100,000 population. reported annually. Over 4,000 cases of amoebiasis are The procedure for diagnosing the disease is based on laboratory examination of unstrained stool specimens. However, recent studies by the Communicable Disease Control Branch of the United States Public Health Service and other Pacific Islands countries have indicated that most of the reported amoebiasis 1s probably incorrectly diagnosed and the proper diagnosis would probably be dysentary. Gastroenteritis and dysentary are the principle diseases responsible for the high communicable disease mortality rate. . Table y.5presents the number of deaths by year from gastrointestinal diseases. of age. Of the 265 deaths, 192 or 75% were children less than one year The mortality rate due to gastroenteritis and dysentary for the period 1972-1977 was 29.26 deaths per 100,000 population. Children less than 1 year of aga account for 19% of all cases hospitalized for gastroenteritis diseases. OBJECTIVE BY 1983, THE MORTALITY RATE FOR GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES WILL BE NO MORE THAN 18 PER 100,000 POPULATION. OBJECTIVE BY 1982, THE INCIDENCE OF GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASE WILL BE REDUCED BY 12%. 9009152