1938 Hong Kong – in the grip of a deadly smallpox epidemic

“Small-pox season,” ran a South China Morning Post headline on January 8, 1938. But there was no hint of what was to come: Hong Kong’s worst smallpox epidemic.

“In two days the police have picked up no fewer than 54 dead bodies from the streets. Fourteen were found in the Central and upper level districts [...] Most of the abandoned dead were victims of small-pox,” ran a report on February 14.

“Thousands of people young and old were vaccinated within the last two weeks,” the Post reported on February 22. “A wish has been expressed that a film be taken of the crowds who thrust themselves with out­stretched arms towards the harassed vaccinators in their hurry to be vaccinated.”

Unvaccinated residents were cause for concern, and thousands of mainland refugees fleeing Japanese invaders exacer­bated the problem.

“The only excuse for non-vaccination is ignorance,” the director of medical services told the Post on February 25, as the death toll rose to 512.