8
the Chilkulgoodum village on the 23rd, or had come in contact with, the cholera-
stricken cart drivers, or had used palm toddy collected in this village, there is no
evidence to show. The village lies so close to the Hussar Barracks and Stables,
that it would be rather remarkable if some men of the Corps had not visited,
or passed through it, during the time the bandymen were suffering from
cholera. In reply to direct queries on the subject, the Medical Officers of the
Corps assert that there was nothing peculiar in the food or drink issued on the
24th, that there was no extra consumption of liquor from the canteen, and no
drunkenness in the Regiment on that day.
First attack in Hussars,
a patient in Hospital.
36. The first person in the Hussar Regiment known to have been attacked
by cholera symptoms was a patient in hospital, who was
convalescing from fever. This man was seized with choleraic
purging at 10 P.M. on the night of the 24th May, but did not report the
circumstance until another man had been admitted with cholera. Following very
rapidly on the first case two other men, in different barrack rooms, viz., in blocks
6 and 8, were seized and brought to hospita learly in the morning of the 25th May.
The fourth case came from, the family quarters.
Rapid increase of
attacks throughout the
25th May.
Removal of entire
Corps to camp within
twenty-six hours of
occurrence of first case.
37. On the occurrence of these cases, arrangements were promptly made
for vacating the barrack rooms and hospital ward, in which
they had occurred, and the preparation of a camp, into which
to move the whole or part of the Regiment, was decided upon. During the day
and night of the 25th, the cholera admissions from the barracks occurred with
such rapidity that it was evident the men had been exposed to a most
virulent form of cholera poisoning, and the Medical authorities consequently
advised the immediate removal of the whole Regiment, men
women, and children, into camp. The ground selected was
about nine miles distant in a north-east direction, and within
twenty-six hours of the occurrence of the first cholera case, on the morning
of the 26th May the whole Corps, including sick in hospital, was under movement
to the cholera camp at Vinagrom.
Thirty-five attacks in
the first 26 hours.
38. So surely, however, had the cholera virus done its work, that in these
twenty-six hours no fewer than thirty-four men and one child
had been attacked, while in the next twenty-four hours eighteen
additional admissions occurred in the encamped Regiment. The cases attacked
before the removal of the Regiment were left behind in the Regimental Hospital
under the charge of Assistant Surgeon Dr. Anderson.
Sudden onslaught and
rapid death of epidemic
in the Hussars.
39. The whole stress of the epidemic, it will be seen, fell upon the Regiment
during the first three or four days. It is true that several
cases occurred on the 4th and 5th days of the outbreak, but
cholera was practically at an end in the Corps four days
after the removal to camp. From the enormous proportion of attacks on the
first, second, and third days of the outbreak, it would seem as if the cholera
influence had struck the Regiment by a single blow, the effects appearing
subsequently according to the idiosyncrasies of the individuals exposed to it.
EuropeanInfantry and
Artillery at Trimulgher-
ry not affected.
40. While the Hussar Regiment was experiencing this intensified visitation
of cholera, the Infantry and Artillery at Trimulgherry were
in the enjoyment of their normal health. We have already
seen that cholera influences were active in the Native Bazaar