Report on the outbreak of plague in the Jullundur and Hoshiarpur districts of the Punjab, 1897-98 / C. H. James.

  • James, C. H.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the outbreak of plague in the Jullundur and Hoshiarpur districts of the Punjab, 1897-98 / C. H. James. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    The effect on the disease was most marked. From the time the execu- The effect of the evacua- tive officers arrived on the scene on 21st to the 29th, tion on the epidemic. when the whole village was empty, we had cases as follows :— 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 6 7 0 3 cases. 3* 99 99 25th 26 th 27 th 28th cases. 31 33 >3 and 29th 2 new cases. After the evacuation there were 2 cases on the 30th, 3 cases on November 1st, 1 on the 5th. 1 on the 6th, 1 on the 17th, and last dropping case on December 3rd. In fact there were 32 new cases in the nine days previous to and during evacuation and only 9 afterwards. This drop in the cases w'hen the people got out into camp has been most marked throughout the operations in all the villages with which we have had to deal, and will be referred to again in greater detail in another section of this report. There were altogether 72 cases and 39 deaths during the month of October. The disinfection of the village was completed at the end of November : a Disinfection of the vii- (lays were spent in making a final inspection of all the i»ge, and return of the in- houses. The Bharais,—a caste of Muhammadan beggars,— habitants. who pac[ t,een attacked by plague, were allowed to return to their houses on November 30th ; the Rawals followed on December 6th ; and then the various camps followed, till everybody had returned on December 26th. The village was, however, still kept cordoned in order to observe whether any “infection” had remained in the houses aud whether any fresh cases would occur after the return of the people. No recrudescence took place. The medical officer had a final roll-call on January 6th, and declared the village free of infection, and after this the police were removed and the people were free to come and go as they pleased. So far the arrangements made seem to have been successful. The The measures adopted disease was decidedly on the increase when we arrived ; it Were successfni in stamp- practically stopped after the village was evacuated and the kar Kaian; but other vii- last case occurred thirty-five days after evacuation. The lages became affected. infection, which had been several months lurking about the village, was completely eradicated after disinfection, and the place has now (July) remained free for seven months. These are, of course, most encouraging results, and as similar results have been obtained in practically every village which has been dealt with, it proves that our methods, if not perfect, are certainly effectual. But we did not stop the disease from spreading to many other villages. For several weeks, after most careful search by two most able medical officers, one in the Jullundur district and another in the Hoshiarpur district, nothing suspicious was obtained, and we almost felt that the disease had been checked. But it had already passed beyond our police cordon : secretly and surely the seeds of destruction were ripening. On November 9th, plague was discovered at Jhandher Khurd, a village Jhandher Khurd attack- seven milesaway from our first village, a little north of the ed- Phagwara-Banga main road, and about miles east of the latter town. No satisfactory explanation as to how the disease reached Mode of infectiou uu. this village was ever obtained, but as the Chamars were knovvn- first affected, and as some of them were related to the Khat- kar Chamars, the probable solution lies in the fact that some one brought the in- fection from our former village. Six suspicious deaths had occurred quite lately before our arrival. The first of these was Rajji, wife of Fattu and sister of Jawahar. She died about October 25th, after an illness of ten days. Her brother, Jawahar, was attacked with plague on November 19th, after our arrival, and died on the 28th. There is little doubt that disease existed in this village about the 15th October and therefore before the authorities had realized the existence of the malady in Khatkar Kaian, our first village.