27
Type.
The bubonic form of plague prevailed and was of a somewhat mild type. Only 3481
per cent, of the cases reported proved fatal.
The comparative mildness of the epidemic
and the low fatality of attacks is attributed by the District Plague Medical Officer to the
scattered nature of the population, and to the hot climate of the district.
The classes most attacked were Hindus of the Arora and Kamboh castes. Females
suffered more than males..
Medical Staff and Establishment.
The Medical Officers and establishment on plague duty 'in the district were as
follows: —Dr. Gardiner, Assistant Surgeon
Basharat Ahmad and a Compounder.
LAHORE DISTRICT.
Epidemic.
Review.
39. The Lahore District became infected with plague for the second time during the
year under report The present epidemic was
more severe than the former, there having been
in all 759 towns and villages infected, with
54,284 cases and 25,652 deaths. During the previous epidemic there had been 20,214
cases with 9 400 deaths. The epidemic rose steadily from the commencement of the season,
with a slight lull during the second half of January, to reach its climax during the week
ending May the 2nd, when 6,181 cases with 2,952 deaths were returned.
Attitude of the people.
On the outbreak of the disease at the commencement of the season the people were
by no means afraid of it, for the cases were
of a mild type and the mortality rather low.
There was, however, a scare among the people of the infected areas when the disease
became widespread and acquired a more virulent character. Those of the inhabit-
ants who had had an opportunity of watching the effects of the measures designed for
the mitigation of the disease during the previous season were favourably disposed towards
the adoption of similar precautions during the present one. But where the epidemic
broke out for the "first time this season the people had but little faith in such measures
and could with difficulty be prevailed upon to adopt them. The inhabitants of the Kasúr
Tahsil were the best disposed towards plague measures, whereas those of the Sharakpur
Tahsil adopted them least of all.
Preventive measures.
There was no surveillance of any kind over arrivals from infected areas, and the
villagers never refused access to their villages
to persons from infected areas.
Disinfection.
One thousand three hundred and ninty-three rooms were chemically disinfected and
143 desiccated. Some experiments were made
with Sawhney's stove in Lahore City. It
was found that to desiccate a room 10 X 10 x 10 feet about two maunds of
cowdung cakes, costing ten annas, had to be used. In half an hour the temperature taken
by a thermometer hung on the wall one foot from the floor recorded a temperature
from 180 to 200 o Fahr. This gradually fell to 130 in 15 to 20 minutes, and fresh
fuel had then to be added. In this way the temperature could be kept up for two hours.
No difficulty was experienced in carrying out the measure, which was popular and much
preferred to chemical disinfection. The people did not remove the contents of the rooms.
When wood was used in the stoves 21/2 maunds were required, costing one rupee. The
temperature, however, was not raised so rapidly as when "pathi" was used. Another
form of stove, named from its inventor the " Holden " stove, gave satisfactory results at
Clarkabad. Four villages— Dholanwál, Pakki Thatti, Siririmpura and Chakabad—were
thoroughly evacuated and disinfected. The results were satisfactory.
Segregation.
Segregation of sick was never practised.
Treatment.
Medical treatment was accepted in some
places to a very considerable extent,
Infection
Personal communication was as a rule the means of spreading the infection from
infected to uninfected places. It was often
noticed that, even when men were suspected
to be the bearers of infection, women were the first to develope the disease.
Persons suffering from the pneumonic variety of the disease were found to be the
most dangerous transmitters of the disease.
Rats.
Mortality of rats was very commonly traced in connection with plague. Of
28 villages, concerning which special en-
quiries were made, 19 reported mortality
among rats to have followed the first human
case, whilst 9 reported that rats began to die before the outbreak among the people,