70
Lahore Division.
MONTGOMERY DISTRICT.
45., O, l' y 2 cases of plague, neither of which were fatal, occurred in the Mont-
g-omery District during 1901-02.
Both of these cases were imported from Ráewind inte the village of Jandoka in-
Gugera Tahsil in April. The patients were segregated, their clothes and bedding Burnt-
compensation being given, and the infected' houses "thoroughly disinfected. Captain Buck,'
the Deputy Commissioner, writes that the people acquiesced in all the arrangements made-
There being only imported plague cases in the district no special Medical staff was
detailed in this district..
LAHORE DISTRICT.
46:. Plague made its appearance in the Lahore District for the first time during the
year under report. All four tahslls" were infected as well as the city of Lahore.
Excluding the city of Lahore 20,006 cases of plague with 9,280 deaths occurred ; in
the city of Lahore there were 208 cases with 120 deaths:
The outbreaks in the city of Lahore and in the rest of the district will' be noticed
separately ; that in the city of Lahore being dealt with last, as' it did not commence until some
time after the district liad become infected.
Plagus in the Lahore District excluding the city of
Lahore
Review of the epidemic.
The following account of the epidemic in the Lahore District consists chiefly of
extracts from the report of Mr. Atkins, the
Deputy Commissioner, supplemented, where-
necessary, by information supplied by Assist-
ant Surgeon Vidya Nátha Singh, the Plague Medical Officer :—•
" The disease was first discovered in this district in Luli
ni, a village of 6,300 inhabit-
ants in Kas
r Tahsil, on the Lahore Ferozepcre road, some 10 miles north of Kas
r. It ap-
pears that in April or May some labourers from Siálkot District came and stayed for some
time in huts near the road close to the Police Station. There appear to have been some
deaths among them and after they left, some deaths occurred among females living in the
neighbourhood where these people had stayed. It was not till October that the death-
rate began to be noticeably high and the suspected presence of plague was first reported
by Mr. M". Crosse, Inspector of Schools. The place was visited at once by the Sub-Divi-
sional Officer, the Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner in succession, but the people
could not be induced to adopt evacuation or disinfection. Four hundred and eighty six cases
of plague-and 236 deaths were reported to have occurred here. The disease was communi-
cated by visits of condolence to the neighbouring village of Khanoharni and similarly to other
villages in the neighbourhood. The principal centre of the disease in this district has been.
in the Lahore and Kas
r Tahsils along the Ferozepare road within 8 or 10 miles of Kana
Kácha and Luliáni. Another infected area extended from Lahore down the river as far as
Chung and a third' area was on the Shekhupura road round the large village of Shekhupura.
The Chunián and Sharakpur Tahs Is did not suffer much. The disease broke out in Kasúr in
December 1901 in one muhalla which was turned out and the houses disinfected. For a time
it appeared that the town was saved, but some 15 days later it appeared in a neighbouring
house which had taken in some of the undisinfected belongings of the people who had been
turned out. In the town of Chunián the disease appeared, but took no hold. The only
other town of considerable size is Patti where a few cases occurred."
In Statement No. 1 (Appendix A) are shown the number of infected villages and the
number of cases and deaths from plague in the different tahsils of the Lahore District during'
the year" under report.
Statement No. 2 (Appendix A) shows" that the disease increased till it reached its-
zenith in April. After the middle of May it died away with great rapidity and in June very
few cases were reported. The epidemic ceased in August, no cases having been reported in
September. It was noticed that in each village the course of the disease was usually the same.
There were a few cases 1 at first, then an interval followed by a more violent attack. The
disease then diminished in that village Luliáni, the first village to be attacked, had its most
violent attack in January and February. Then the disease died away and the village was
nearly free in April when the district was getting worse. Similarly, Kasúr almost got rid of.
the disease in May, having its worst time in April.
A noticeable feature of the epidemic of plague in the Lahore District is the compara-
tively low proportion of deaths to attacks This is only 46.50 as compared with 65.04, in the
whole of the Province and 73.44. in the Ludhiána District.