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HYDERABADSUBSIDIARY FORCE.
The following is an interesting report by Deputy Surgeon-General Barclay
on the outbreak of cholera at Secunderabad in the year 1872, which lasted from
5th November till nearly the 31st December:
—
From the termination of the cholera epidemic of 1871, about the end of July of that
year, the station of Secunderabad was, with the exception of a few sporadic cases, entirely
free from the disease till the 5th of November 1872.
2. A like immunity prevailed throughout the Nizam's dominions generally until the
early part of April 1872. On the 9th of that month the disease made its appearance at
Amba (Mominabad), and during the subsequent months of May, June, July, and August at
many other places, chiefly in the northern, north-western, and western districts. In the
end of August it appeared in the city of Hyderabad and the neighbouring bazaars and in
some of the Nizam's villages to westward of the cantonment, but the cases were few.
Indeed the chief peculiarity of the year 1872, as regards cholera in the Nizam's dominions
generally, seems to be that the disease hardly anywhere made much head, or gained any
firm footing.
3. The most severe outbreak of any appears to have been that at Chittapur and Shey
- d u m b , v i l l a g e s o n t h e l i n e o f t h e H y d e r a b a d S t a t e R a i l w a y n o w u n d e r c o n s t r u c t i o n ; t h e
f o r m e r 8 ½ m i l e s , a n d t h e l a t t e r 2 2 ½ m i l e s e a s t o f t h e " W a d d y J u n c t i o n . " A m o n g t h e r a i l w a y
coolies encamped in the neighbourhood of these villages, 26 attacks occurred, with 11 deaths,
from the 19th June to the end of July. The numbers of attacks and deaths reported in the
villages themselves I do not consider very reliable, but the outbreak was evidently a
sharp one.
4. With the view of tracing the course of the disease from the date of its first appearance
in this division, a record was kept of all reports received in this office, and from these
reports Table A (Appendix No. I.) has been compiled. I regret that, owing to the imperfect
information contained in the reports of the Nizam's officials, and the want of any map
showing the "Districts" and "Taluqs" of His Highness' dominions, this table is by no means
so complete as I could have wished. In July I brought this matter to the notice of the
Officiating Resident at Hyderabad, and copy of a letter addressed by him to the Minister
on the subject is attached (Appendix No. II.). Sir Salar Jung kindly issued orders to the
local authorities to furnish cholera reports in greater detail in future; but these orders
were only partially acted on, and several of the localities named in the table are not traceable.
The list, however, contains a sufficient number of well-known places, or places the position
of which can be accurately ascertained to show that the disease did not follow any regular
course, but showed itself almost simultaneously in places at considerable distances from
each other, and in quite different directions.
5. From the time it was known to exist in the division, all practicable means were
adopted, both in the way of sanitary precautions and of guarding the approaches, to prevent,
if possible, its introduction into the station; and it had been for some time in the immediate
vicinity before any case occurred within cantonment limits. But there can evidently be no
effectual quarantine in a station covering about 20 square miles of ground; and on the night
of the 5th November two cases of cholera occurred in the town of Secunderabad, and the
disease continued epidemic there till near the end of December.
6. Of the two persons first attacked, one was a Police Constable, and the other a boy of six
years old, both resident in "Nullagoottah." The Constable was removed to the Jail Hospital
and eventually recovered; the boy was taken to the Civil Dispensary in a state of collapse,
and died a few hours after admission. The circumstances connected with the occurrence
of these cases were at once carefully investigated on the spot, both by the Cantonment
Magistrate and by myself. No evidence of importation could be found; but, considering that
the disease had for some time existed in the immediate neighbourhood, it is highly probable
that it was imported in some undiscovered way. The Constable, it appeared, had been
fasting during the whole of the day previous to his being attacked.
7. In the subsequent progress of the epidemic there was nothing of special interest or
calling for remark. Up to the 9th November the cases were, with one exception, confined
to "Nullagoottah" at the extreme west of the town, close to the Hussain Saugor tank. This
is notoriously the most unhealthy district, and that in which cholera usually makes its first
appearance and commits its greatest ravages, although in the epidemic of 1871 this was not
the case. From Nullagoottah the disease gradually spread eastward to other parts of the
town. It attained its maximum virulence on the 7th of December, on which day eight
deaths occurred. After this it rapidly declined, and the epidemic may be considered to have
ceased on the 28th of that month.
8. The total attacks up to the date just mentioned were 133, and the deaths 56, being
in the ratio of 42.10 per cent. In my official diary, dated 31st December 1872, the number
of attacks was stated to be 132, and that of deaths 58, but one or two clerical errors were
subsequently detected in the daily reports received from the Cantonment Magistrate's Office.
9. Estimating the population of Secunderabad town at 40,000, the attacks would be
in the ratio of 3.32 per mille, and the deaths in the ratio of 1.40 per mille. Details are given
in Table B (Appendix III.).
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