88
ABSTRACT OF REPORTS BY CIVIL SURGEONS.
There was a considerable reduction in the number of vaccinations, and while greater
success attended the operations it was still very unsatisfactory. These failures are
accounted for by the fact that last year, owing to the great severity with which small-pox
prevailed, many parents brought their children to be vaccinated; but this year the pressure
not being equally great, the old indifference to vaccination revived. Crusts, tubes of lymph,
and sometimes lymph carried in cotton, had to be used when arm-to-arm vaccination could
not be effected, and this caused many failures in the success of the operations. Births are
registered in the Kendrapara and Jagipore towns only, where they amounted during the
year to 874; but the estimated births in the entire area under operation stand at 4,521.
Calculated on this number, the proportion of infants vaccinated to number born comes to
only 6.14 per cent. Referring to the religion of the vaccinated, it is found that of the
Hindu population .93 per cent. were operated on, of the Mahomedan 1.13 per cent., of the
Christian 1.60 per cent., and of the other races 1.73 per cent. The Civil Surgeon inspected
the work in the town of Cuttack and in the Patamundi thana and its suburbs, but the
result of his inspections is not given. Inoculation is not yet interdicted in the district,
and is carried on chiefly in the mofussil. Every endeavour was made to induce the people
to accept vaccination, but the Civil Surgeon says that one of the chief difficulties met with
in spreading its benefits is the great dislike the people have to part with lymph to vaccinate
others, and thus the vaccinators are hampered in their work. This opposition is experienced
more in the towns than in the mofussil. Reasoning with the people and offering rewards to the
poorer classes are the only means by which this difficulty can, it is said, be overcome. Inoculators
are encourged to apprentice themselves as vaccinators, and are afterwards employed by the
Superintendent of Vaccination. Many are, however, unwilling to be so employed. Small-pox
prevailed with great severity in the Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagipore towns during the
year under notice, particularly in the earlier months of April, May and June, being a
continuation of the epidemic visitation of the disease in the last months of 1879. The
recorded mortality in these towns was as follows :—
Cuttack... ...
Kendrapara... ...
Jagipore... ...
Deaths.
48
102
44
Ratio per mille
.94
9.54
4.09
This heavy mortality, the Civil Surgeon says, shows the unprotected state of the people
as regards vaccination or even effectual inoculation.
47. Pooree. —There were two vaccinators attached to the Pooree Pilgrim Dispensary,—one
from 8th November 1880 to the 31st March 1881, and the other from the 7th to the 31st
March 1881. They were paid at Rs. 10 each from the Pooree Lodging-house Fund, and were
employed chiefly within the town, and when no one could be got in it, they went to the
nearest villages. They could not be sent to the distant villages this year, as small-pox was
always present in the town. Endeavours were made, as far as possible, to accomplish com-
plete vaccination of families, and where this was not practicable operations were performed
on those who consented to submit to them. The civil authorities rendered all the assistance
they could give in the absence of a compulsory law to promote vaccination. The lymph
was obtained from Calcutta and Cuttack. The supplies from Calcutta failed, but those from
Cuttack proved successful. The virus was kept up by arm-to-arm vaccination, but as
it was extremely difficult to get the people to part with lymph from their arms, a small
but constant supply was kept up in the jail by vaccinating the unprotected prisoners,
and some was obtained by inducing the beggars to undergo the operation and to part with
lymph from their arms on payment of small sums of money. The work performed during
the year is exhibited in the subjoined statement and compared with that of the preceding
year:—
In 1880-81...
In 1879-80...
Total number vaccinated.
577
1,051
Average number vaccinated by
each vaccinator.
288
525
PRIMARY VACCINATIONS.
Total.
526
1,036
Successful.
Under one year.
16
One year and
under six.
111
No data.
Total of all ages.
469
841
Re-vaccin-
ations.
Total.
51
15
Successful.
51
15
Percentages
of success-
ful cases.
Primary.
89.2
81.2
Re-vaccination.
100.0
100.0
RELIGION OF THE VACCINATED.
Number vaccinated.
Hindus.
561
Mahomedans.
5
Christians.
11
Other races.
...
Proportion per cent. to
total vaccinated.
Hindus.
97.2
Mahomedans.
.86
Christians.
1.9
Other races.
...
No data.
There was a considerable falling off in the number vaccinated, and the quality of the oper-
ations, although better than in the past year, is not satisfactory. In explanation of this decrease
the Civil Surgeon submits that the permanent vaccinator employed this year, a new man,