8
REPORT ON VACCINATION IN BENGAL
THE Report of the Presidency Circle by Dr. Charles, Superintendent-General of Vac-
cination, was received in this office on the 11th June. Surgeon-Major R. Harvey acted from
the 13th August to the 17th November, and during the rest of the year Dr. Charles.
There were no changes in the permanent staff. In August an extra vaccinator was
employed; in February four, and in March two, extra vaccinators were taken on in conse-
quence of the severities of the small-pox epidemic. Dr. Charles would have employed more
men had properly trained vaccinators been available.
Number of vaccinations.—The total number vaccinated by the regular department was
62,831, against 52,861 the year before. Of those vaccinated, 30,821 were emigrants, and
32,010 residents of Calcutta. The year before only 23,967 residents were vaccinated. In
the city of Calcutta itself 14,712 vaccinations were made, against 11,160 in 1877-78, and
of those operated on during 1878-79, 10,182 were primary cases. In the previous year the
corresponding number was 8,996 of primary cases; 10,073 were successful. There were
4,534 re-vaccinations, against 2,167 the year before. In the suburbs a total of 14,115 cases
of vaccination has been registered The year before there were 12,807, so that the increase
for the year under report was 1,307. Out of these, 9,395 were primary cases, against 9,937
the year before, or 542 men for the latter period. Of re-vaccinations there were 4,720 in
in 1878-79 and 2,870 the year before.
Success.—Very great difficulty was experienced in keeping up the supply of lymph owing
to the prevalence of small-pox and the demand for re-vaccination; yet, notwithstanding, the
" virus had been preserved m a high state of perfection, and the vaccination taken as a
whole" (writes Dr. Charles), "that I have personally inspected during the year, has
left nothing to be desired. Of the 10,102 primary operations performed in Calcutta by the
regular staff of the establishment, in which the result was known, 10,073 proved successful,"
or 99.71 per cent. Last year it was 99.75. Of 4,534 re-vaccinations in the town, 571 were
successful. Of 9,395 primary vaccinations in the suburbs, 9,389 proved successful, or 99.94
per cent., against 99.72 the year before. There were besides 1,097 cases out of 4,720
re-vaccinations.
Emergent establishment from Metropolitan Circles.—In consequence of the cool weather
in May, Dr. Charles began to feel alarmed for the results which might ensue in
the city next cold weather owing to the presence of such a large body of small-pox cases,
as then existed, remaining in Calcutta, through the hot weather and rains, unchecked by
climatic influences which usually retard it at this season. In searching through the records
of his office he found that the disease continued in Calcutta in considerable force during the
hot weather and rains of 1849, and desolating the city in the early months of 1850. He,
therefore, in the middle of May, asked for and obtained the aid he wanted from the men
of the Metropolitan Circles, who had left off work, viz. 3 Superintendents, 3 head
vaccinators, and 20 vaccinators, of whom all were at work by the 23rd of that month, and
they worked on till the 28th July, by which latter date he considered that he would dispense
with their services. Their work is not reported on along with that of the regular establish-
ment, for, if it had been so, it would have rendered future comparisons of the work of that
establishment impossible. The emergent establishment did good work, having between the
20th May and 28th July vaccinated 13,184 persons. Of these, 2,904 were primary, of which
2,788 were successful, or 97.7 per cent., which no doubt, under the circumstances, was not bad,
as there were difficulties in getting reliable lymph.
Small-pox.—The disease was epidemic in Calcutta from the 1st April from which day
the report dates; 287 deaths occurred in March, 338 in April, 331 in May, and 253 in June.
In July, August, and September it diminished considerably, the deaths being 78, 29, and 7
respectively. For the next three months deaths were thus registered: October 11, November 7,
and December 28. Then in January there were 63 deaths, in February 133, and in
March 212. This epidemic, Dr. Charles says, may be said to have extended over two years.
" Such prevalence of the disease over two cold seasons is of very rare occurrence. I can only
find one other instance of it in the records of my office, in which 1,724 deaths in 1849 were
followed by 4,492 deaths during 1850. The contrast between the heavy figures of 1850,
and the much lighter ones of 1879 are so far satisfactory. I believe they point strongly
both to the increased protection against small-pox among the general population arrived at
since that date and to our increased power of combating an epidemic by larger and better
and more carefully organized vaccine establishments. It is impossible to appraise with any
approximation to exactitude the effect that the work of the Superintendents of Vaccination
from the Metropolitan Circles, and the large staff they brought in with them, exercised in
leading to the much smaller mortality thus brought into comparison. It must have accorded
to it a very considerable share in the result attained, and I believe that the figures I have
brought forward fully justify the expense incurred by the recommendation that was made
for the employment of such an exceptional agency." In the suburbs the disease has been
chiefly confined to small localities, as for example at Chitpore during April, May, and June,
when it attacked low caste up-country people residing there, but did not spread. It also
appeared in February at Manicktollah, which is intentionally left unprotected, in order to keep
up the supply of lymph during the hot weather and rains. On this occasion, however,
rapid vaccination had to be practised to prevent the disease spreading. Small-pox also