9
Animal Lymph Depôt at Shillong.
28. The annual report of the Bovine Vaccine Depôt at Shillong is given as
Appendix A to this report. Including Rs. 760-4-7 debited
to the Manipur State, the expenditure for the year amounted
to Rs. 7,252-12-5, as against Rs. 7,217-3-11 in 1895-96, an increase of Rs. 35-8-6.
The expenditure on calves was considerably less than it was in the previous year,
Rs. 2,608, as against Rs. 2,904, but the cost of vaccine tubes rose from Rs. 1,981-11-1
in 1895-96 to Rs. 2,274-2-4 in 1896-97. There were 316,933 tubes loaded at the depôt,
as against 239,386 loaded in the previous year. On an average 11,900 loaded tubes
were sent weekly to Civil Surgeons during the vaccinating season. All Civil Surgeons
reported that the lymph received by them from the depôt throughout the season was of
excellent quality. I inspected a good many vaccinations at the different places which
I visited during my cold weather tour, and the results were in all cases satisfactory.
Much credit is due to Surgeon-Major Carroll for the interest he has taken in the depôt
and for the very efficient manner in which he has supervised it during the year. He
states that the hospital assistant in subordinate charge, Chandra Nath Chand, did
excellent work during the year.
Results obtained with lanoline
lymph.
29. Small supplies of vaccine lymph, preserved in lanoline, were sent in December
1896 to the Civil Surgeons of Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang,
Sibsagar, Lakhimpur and Sylhet, with the request that
they would arrange to have vaccine operations done in
their presence with the lymph, and that they would afterwards submit reports on the
results obtained. From the reports it appears that the results obtained from lymph
preserved in lanoline and glycerine are practically the same. The Civil Surgeons of
Goalpara and Sibsagar found that after it was kept for some time lymph preserved in
lanoline became inert, and from previous experience it is known that under similar
conditions lymph preserved in glycerine also becomes inert. Lymph preserved in
glycerine is distributed in hermetically sealed tubes, which are not opened till the lymph
is about to be used, so that the lymph cannot become contaminated. Lymph preserved
in lanoline is, on the other hand, distributed in small boxes, and, on the boxes being
opened, the lymph might become contaminated with noxious matters. This risk of
contamination, in my opinion, counterbalances the advantage possessed by lanoline
lymph over glycerine lymph on the ground of cheapness, and I therefore do not recom-
mend the use of lanoline lymph in this province, instead of lymph preserved in glycerine.
Fresh animal lymph.
30. As lymph of inferior quality was sent from the Shillong depôt to districts
during a portion of the vaccinating season of 1893-94, and
again in 1894-95, it was considered to be advisable to
arrange to have an independent source of supply in each district. The Chief Com-
missioner accordingly directed that arrangements should be made with a view to adopting
the method of vaccinating with fresh calf lymph. A Circular was sent to all Civil
Surgeons in June 1896, giving the details of the method of inoculating calves with vac-
cine lymph, and requesting them to make an attempt to use this method of vaccinating
children at the head-quarters stations of their districts during the ensuing vaccinating
season. The difficulty of obtaining calves for this purpose was, however, so great and
the caste prejudices of the vaccinators were so strong that the attempt to carry on
vaccination work by this method had to be given up.
Arm-to-arm vaccination.
31. In connection with the concluding portion of the third paragraph of the
Resolution on the Vaccination Report for 1895-96, Civil
Surgeons were requested to notice in their reports to what
extent arm-to-arm vaccination was still practised in their districts and to compare the
results with those obtained with animal lymph. From the reports received, it appears
that during the past season arm-to-arm vaccination was used only in the Sylhet and
Sibsagar Districts. In the Sylhet District, 4,059 cases of arm-to-arm vaccination were
performed, with a successful result in every case. In the Sibsagar District, out of 41,283
operations performed, 13,710 were done by the arm-to-arm method. The Civil Surgeon
did not, however, state what proportion of the arm-to-arm cases was successful. The
result must have been satisfactory, as 99.38 per cent. of the primary vaccinations done
by the vaccinators and dispensary staffs in the district were successful.
I have the honour to be,
SIR,
Your most obedient Servant,
A. STEPHEN, M.B., Surgeon-Colonel,
Principal Medical Officer and Sanitary Commissioner, Assam.