8
REPORT ON THE
9. PARTICULAR DISEASES.—Small-pox.—All the cases of this disease were
admitted into the Campbell Hospital, and they numbered 35, against 21 in 1891.
Dr. Mackenzie gives the following information regarding the types of the
disease:—
Confluent
. . .
...
5
Discrete
. . .
. . .
7
Hæmorrhagic
...
...
1
Semi-confluent
...
...
15
Modified
. . .
. . .
7
Total
. . .
35.
There were 10 deaths among the 35 treated, indicating the absence of
protection by vaccination in at least half of the cases.
10. Cholera .—The total number treated for this disease was 709, as com-
pared with 761 in 1891, but the rate of mortality was somewhat higher in the
past year. It is noticeable that only 11 cases were admitted into the Presidency
General Hospital, of which 8 came from the port. As usual, the largest number
was treated in the Campbell Hospital.
11. In the report for 1891 allusion was made to the occurrence of cholera
among patients under treatment in the Campbell Hospital, and its probable
cause was referred to milk, and by my predecessor to some grave sanitary defect
in the hospital latrines. During 1892 cholera appeared among the patients in
the Medical College Hospital, six cases in all having occurred. Dr. Birch, the
Principal, attributed the disease to a defect in the water-supply, but after the
special defect had been rectified another case was noticed in the surgical ward,
the cause of which is said to have been contaminated food which a patient, not
content with hospital diet, had procured from outside. Among the patients
of the Howrah Hospital also there were four cases, all of which proved fatal.
Dr. Murray, the Superintendent, alleges that indiscretion in diet was the cause
in all of them. The men were allowed exercise out of hospital and availed
themselves of the opportunity to eat some fruit. No suspicion in these four
cases is attached to specially localized conditions in the hospital itself.
12. The cause of cholera is still hidden from our knowledge and its mode
of communication a secret. Air, water, food, human intercourse, and numerous
insanitary conditions have each in turn been mentioned as the medium by
which cholera is propagated, but we have not yet got beyond mere speculation
as to the origin of the disease. There is, however, undoubted evidence that
cholera is less frequent among a community enjoying the benefits of more
perfect sanitary surroundings.
13.
While writing this report Professor Haffkine, of the Pasteur Institute
of Paris, has given the medical profession in Calcutta an insight into the manner
in which practical investigations have been carried out in the cultivation of the
comma bacillus and its application as a protective inoculation in cholera.
His exposition in the Theatre of the Medical College was a model of concise
experiment, and will no doubt stimulate enquiry. The conclusions drawn by
the Professor and his coadjutors in Europe are now fully and clearly placed
before the scientific world.
14. Dysentery .—The total number treated from this disease in all the
institutions was less than in 1891. Thus—
1891.
1892.
In-door patients ...
1,328
1,104
Out-door „
...
4,928
4,450
and the death-rate was 28.44, against 26.28 in 1891, showing a slightly higher
rate of fatality. As usual, the Campbell Hospital admitted by far the largest
number, and owing to the extreme poverty of the class from which patients are
derived it is not surprising that the deaths from this disease reached the large
percentage of 38.31 of the total number treated at the hospital.
15. Diarrhœa .—S even thousand and fifty-four patients were treated for
diarrhœa, of whom 5,776 were out-patients and 1,278 admitted to hospital.