31
Information.
The prescribed returns were submitted by Patwárís and were checked as much as
possible whenever an officer visited a vil-
lage.
Disinfection.
One hundred and sixty-seven rooms were chemically disinfected and 31884 were
desiccated. Chemical disinfection or desiccation
was carried out in nearly every infected house in
Gujrát City. The people were opposed to the chemical treatment of their personal effects,
but they did not object to their being desiccated. When desiccation became available it
entirely supplanted chemical disinfection, for personal effects as well as houses were disinfected
by this means. Temperatures on the ground were obtained up to 130 0 Fahr., and 9 to 10
seers of charcoal were found to be sufficient for an average-sized room. Dr. Thornton,
who was for some time District Plague Medical Officer, devoted special attention to desic-
cation and made experiments with different patterns of stoves. He mentions that some cases
of carbonic oxide poisoning occurred when charcoal was used in Sawhney's stove : the cases
recovered.
Infection.
In most instances where a village became infected a distinct history could be obtained
that either the patient or the relatives had
come into contact with a case of plague. In
certain villages the disease recrudesced after a period of quiescence.
Rats.
No information is available concerning rat mortality in the Gujrát District in
relation to outbreaks of plague. Rewards
were offered in Gujrát City for the destruc-
tion of rats, but none were claimed.
Type.
Though several cases of pneumonic and septicaemic plague were seen, the prevalent
type was the bubonic.
Medical Staff and Establishment.
The Medical staff and establishment on plague duty in the district were as follows :—
Captain Stephenson, I. M. S., Dr. Baron, Dr.
A. M. Elliot, Dr. Thornton, Assistant Surgeon
Muhammad Hussain, Assistant Surgeon Abdul Rahman, I Hospital Assistant and 4 Com-
pounders.
SHAHPUR DISTRICT.
Epidemic.
43. The epidemic of plague in the Shahpur District during the year under report was
a mild one, though more severe than that of the
previous season : 435 cases of plague with 206
deaths were reported in 1901-02, while during the present year 948 cases with 585 deaths
occurred. With the exception of one imported case in Shahpur Town in October 1902,
the district remained free of plague until late in February 1903. The disease then broke
out in a village in the Bhera Tahsil, but was not reported until March. In April the Shahpur
and Khushab Tahsils became infected.
The people were opposed to plague measures and gave no assistance in carrying them
out.
Preventive measures.
Evacuation.
Segregation.
Treatment
No surveillance over arrivals from infected areas was exercised in any place, but the
people of Shahpur, Bhera and Sahiwál tried to
prevent the entry into their towns of persons
coming from infected places. There was no-
where any thorough evacuation, though some
of the people of the villages left their houses and lived in temporary shelters or under
trees outside their villages. In Municipal towns the sick with their contacts were kept outside
the town in temporary sheds. At one village some of the sick were segregated by their
relatives.
European medical treatment was not accepted, native treatment being preferred,
Disinfection.
Forty-four rooms were chemically disinfected and 439 were desiccated. In
Khusháb, Shahpur, Bhera and Miáni the
infected houses and those in their immediate
vicinity were chemically disinfected with good results. No cases occurred in these quar-
ters after disinfection. Desiccation by Sawhney's stoves was readily accepted. Charcoal,