9 ,
occurring within his juriisdicton with the wards (in the case of munici-
palities) or the villages (in the case of a taluk) in which they have
occurred.
Appointment
of plague
inspectors. "
10. In any district in which any town or village has been declared
infected, or with the sanction of Government in any district threatened
with plague, the Collector may appoint plague inspectors who should, if
possible, be qualified sanitary inspectors, for the purpose of observa-
tion in addition to the health inspectors belonging to the district
health staff. In municipal areas it will generally be desirable to appoint
an inspector for each ward, though it may not always be necessary if
the wards are small; and a separate inspector should ordinarily be appoint-
ed for each non-municipal town with a population of 5,000 or more.
Elsewhere each inspector should be placed in charge of a circle of a sizo
which will admit of his visiting every portion of it within ten days or
Jess. Subject to the control of the Collector the inspectors will work
under the orders of the plague officer having jurisdiction over their
circles.
Duties of
plague
inspectors.
11. In the absence of special orders from the Collector, the duties
of a plague inspector are—
(1) to patrol the area under his charge for the purpose of obtaining
early information of rat mortality or of human plague ;
(2) to proceed at once to any place from which infection is newly
reported ; and, in the absence of a medical officer, to see that the best
possible arrangements are made for the comfort and treatment of any
patients whose relations cannot take care of them themselves ;
(3) within 24 hours of receiving the first intimation, to submit a
detailed report (in the form given in Appendix 33) to his immediate
superior and to the Collector with regard to every imported case and
with regard to each of the first three indigenous cases in the village ;
(4) to examine any dead rats that may be found in a place not
already declared infected and, if he finds any enlarged glands and has
been instructed how to take smears, to send spleen or liver smears to the
King Institute at Guindy for examination ;
(5) to visit frequently all infected areas in his range, to encourage
the people to get themselves inoculated and to leave their houses and
camp in some place where they will be away from the neighbourhood
of infected rats ;
(6) to advise the people generally on the means of avoiding plague,
and especially as to the removal of all food and garbage from places
accessible to rats, and as to the destruction of rats ; and
(7) when so directed by the Collector or plague officer to conduct
or assist in conducting a campaign for the destruction of rats.
Report to be
sent by Col-
lectors to the
Director of
Public Health
on the occur-
rence of the
first case of
plague.
12. When a case of plague, genuine or suspected, is first discovered
in any place not declared infected, the Collector or, in his absence, any
gazetted officer at the headquarters station of the district, should
immediately intimate the fact by post to the Director of Public Health
stating whether the case was indigenous or imported, if the latter whence
it was imported, how the case was discovered, and any other further
parliculars, with dates, which may appear necessary. In the case of
ports whence vessels sail for Europe, however, intimation should be sent
by telegram which should state whether any plague or unusual morta-
lity among rats Mas observed. Names of hamlets should not be tele-
graphed but only the names of villages to which such hamlets belong.
2