Black-water fever : being the first report to the Advisory Committee appointed by the Government of India to conduct an enquiry regarding black-water and other fevers prevalent in the Duars / by S.R. Christophers and C.A. Bentley.

  • Christophers, S. R. (Samuel Rickard), 1873-1978.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Black-water fever : being the first report to the Advisory Committee appointed by the Government of India to conduct an enquiry regarding black-water and other fevers prevalent in the Duars / by S.R. Christophers and C.A. Bentley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    which we need not enter here, are usually but little exposed to such infection as exists. Thus one of us, as a result of experience, found it quite unnecessary to adopt special precautions against malaria while living in the outskirts of Madras; nor did those living in the neighbourhood suffer, though a certain amount of infec- tion, by no means great, was to be found in the bazaars. This condition is expe- rienced in Calcutta, Bombay, and most Indian stations and is met with even in rural districts, for one of us passed two years in a portion of Assam (Cacharj without contracting malaria, although no special care was taken to avoid it; but on moving to Tezpur, a Black-water Fever district, he suffered severely until from necessity he adopted the practice of taking quinine daily. Again in many large tracts of India malaria may be very rife, but only at certain seasons. Thus at Mian Mir which is one of the most notoriously malarious stations of the Punjab, malaria is only really prevalent for two or three months in the autumn ; and this remark applies more or less to the whole North-West, where rainfall is scanty and there is a long period of drought associated with a cold season. Briefly stated then we may assert that the great majority of Europeans in India are not exposed to Black-water Fever conditions, assuming that these are rife in an intensely malarious district. An objection has been raised in regard to the British soldier, who is frequently exposed to malarious conditions and often suffers severely from the effects of residence in a malarious station, but appar- ently does not suffer from Black-water Fever. The British soldier, however, is under continual medical inspection and is almost certain if he suffers much from malaria to be invalided or drafted to some healthier place long before the necessary condition of predisposition has been reached. It is evident, therefore, after a full consideration of the facts, that the argu- ments raised against the theory as to the malarial origin of Black-water Fever based upon the geographical distribution of that disease are no longer tenable in so far as thev relate to India: for an examination of the real facts shows that where in India there is intense malaria Black-water Fever is also found. Association of Black-water Fever with Malaria. That it is among communities living under constant liability to attacks of malaria that Black-water Fever is found to exist is very generally admitted; but it has been urged that this association of the two diseases is only accidental, due merely to the fact that the conditions favourable for the occurrence and propa- gation of malaria are also suitable for the existence of the special parasite, which has been suggested as the cause of Black-water Fever. It is a very important matter then to decide whether the association of the two diseases is mere