Annual report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India.

  • India. Sanitary Commissioner.
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of India. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/348 (page 11)
    7. Small-pox was twice as prevalent amongst the European troops during 1905 as during the preceding year and was report- _ , ed from all the geographical groups except two— Small-pox. Appendices A. and B, ~ T ) , , r.t „ r Tables in and iv. Burma Inland (II) and Bengal-Orissa (IV). The Western Command was chiefly affected, contributing 77 cases (one fatal) while the Northern furnished six cases and the Eastern one only. 1 here were in all 99 cases with one death as compared with 49 cases with four deaths in 1904 and 68 cases with eight deaths in 1903. One or more cases were recorded in 23 stations, the largest numbers occurring in Poona (26), Mhow (19) and Colaba (9). At Poona, the epidemic prevailed from January to May—most of the cases occurring in March, and it is stated that the disease was contracted, in the first instance at least, in the bazaar, where a severe epidemic was raging amongst the natives. All the infected men bore satisfactory marks ol vaccination and none of them had previously suffered from small-pox. No death occurred amongst the 26 men attacked at Poona, while a woman who had not been vaccinated was attacked by the disease and died. The outbreak at Mhow took place in March and fresh cases continued to occur till June. The disease was prevalent among the native population and the source of infection was traced to the sadar bazaar which is situated near the barracks of the cavalry, who suffered most. None of the patients had previously suffered from small-pox and all had been vaccinated (one man had been vaccinated just a week before he became infected). In the station of Colaba small-pox prevailed from January to March ; the disease was severely epidemic in Bombay City but the source of infection, as regards the troops, was not definitely traced. Ail the nine men that were attacked had been vaccinated and seven of them revaccinated on one or more occasions. 8. During 1905, a year of abnormally small autumn rainfall, there was excep¬ tionally little malaria among the European troops, intermittent fever being the cause of 13 per, cent, only of the total admissions as com¬ pared with 19 per cent, during 1904 and 23 per cent. during 1903. The admission rate for the European army of India as a whole was 111 against 174 in 1904 and an average for the preceding decennium of 311, and the death rate fell from *24 in 1904 to *i1 per mille. There was also a coincident diminution in the prevalence of the disease during 1905 among Native troops and prisoners, the rates for these, (except for that of prisoners in 1896*), being the lowest on record. To the reduction in the prevalence of this disease among European troops all three commands contri¬ buted, their admission rates falling from 202 in the Northern, 212 in the Western and 129 in the Eastern to 70, 163 and 113, respectively. The incidence in the Northern thus fell to about one-third of what it was in 1904 and that in the Western, although considerably smaller than in the preceding year, is still the largest in the three commands. The great prevalence of malarial fever in the Western Command was due chiefly to the troops of the 5th (Mhow) Division being particularly affected. Of the ten divisions, the admission rates were highest among the troops in the 5th (Mhow) Division with 184 per mille of strength, the 1st (Peshawar) Division with 178*9 and the 6th (Poona) Division with 155*6. Among the troops of the Aden Brigade the admission rate was 286*2 per mille and the death rate 3*17 against 486*5 and 4*39 per mille, respectively, in 1904. Ague (1). Appendix B. Tables X and LIII. * The admission rate of prisoners in 1896 was 278*5 per mille as compared with 325*5 in 1905.