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Capt. Smith sums up his views regarding home isolation as follows :—
It will be seen from the reports of the Sectional Medical Officers attached
that where the sick can be kept apart from the rest of the people in the house
and can be looked after properly, and where all sanitary precautions are taken
there is no doubt that home isolation has very few objectionable features. On the
contrary where the people are poor and ignorant and are overcrowded and do not
take any precautions and refuse to allow the sick to be removed to hospital there
is no doubt that the so called home isolation is most harmful and dangerous to all
contacts and neighbours, and tends to spread the disease to a very great extent
indeed. Allowing home isolation has not in any way tended to increase the number
of cases reported by the people. Concealment is still practised amongst the people
and very extensively indeed amongst the well to do and richer classes. It will also
be seen from the Sectional Medical Officer's reports that a very small number of
cases wore removed to hospital. This also applies to the private and caste hospitals
also. • There is no doubt in my mind, but that the sterilization of the clothes, etc., in
these cases, and the disinfection of the rooms after the recovery or death of patients
has undoubtedly prevented the disease spreading as it would otherwise un-
doubtedly have done.
The reports of the Sectional Medical Officers of C Ward are full of
examples of cases which support the correctness of the deductions made
by Capt. Smith, the District Officer. In the Market section there were
269 patients segregated of whom 97 recovered and the remainder died.
There were 211 voluntary removals to hospitals. Dr. Britto in charge of
the Market section remarks as follows :—
Under the circumstances the patient was allowed to remain in the same room
along with others. Besides, in chawls where rooms are about 10' x 8', and inhabited
by the poor class, where in all cases there is overcrowding, "home isolation " is a
misnomer. The effect of this rule has proved drastic to the poor class, as it helped
to spread the disease. The people being poor and unable to afford proper medical
aid, died for want of same. Many cases have come under notice, where some of
the people were treated by home remedies and so called specifics, while others were
kept without any treatment.
Other cases have come under notice where all the members of the family have
been found sick with plague and no person to look after them. They were kept
locked up in their rooms by friends who did not care to remove them to hospital.
A notable instance of this kind came under observation at house No. 13,
Carnac 2nd Cross Lane. A family consisting of mother and son were lying
side by side suffering from plague and in a state of delirium. They were locked in
the room by some friends and were accidentally found, while on my rounds.
Another instance of this kind was noted in No. 51, Sheikh Memon Street.
The head of the family died of plague on 9th January 1901. Four other members
of the family were lying very ill with fever of a suspicious type. They were with
difficulty induced to go to hospital, where it was found they were suffering from
relapsing fever. All of them recovered under treatment. These were
Kathiawari refugees.
Besides the ignorance and apathy of the people as to the risk they incur from
close contact with people suffering from the disease adds another factor to the
spread of the disease.