13
32. The following extracts from the Plague Report of 1900-01 will, together
with what has been previously recorded, permit of an idea being formed of the extent
of the epidemic of plague in the Jullundur and Hoshiárpur Districts and of the altered
conditions already referred to : —
Measures adopted in the Jullundur District.
"The measures adopted for dealing with outbreaks of plague have undergone considerable changes during
the present year. As the transition from the former methods to those now in vogue was most complete and
gradual in the Jullundur District, these measures will be described here. Such differences as existed in other
districts will be referred to when describing the outbreaks there.
Methods of obtaining informations regarding the occurrence
of plague cases and plague deaths.
Observation.
" After plague had disappeared from the Jullundur and Hoshiárpur Districts in June 1900, the observation
agency was continued as it has been ever since its first
institution early in 1898 The constitution and the work
of the observation agency has been described in the plague
reports for 1897 98 and 1899-1900. It therefore needs no
further description here.
" The system was continued in the above-mentioned area (which included the whole of the NawashahrTahsíl
with the adjoining portion of the Phillour and most of the Garhshankar Tahsíll until March, when on account of
the spread of plague it became necessary to withdraw, one after another, the Hospital Assistants on observation
duty, for employment in infected villages. The same thing happened with ragard to the civil officials employed on
plague observation duty, and the system thus gradually came to an end Observation work was then chiefly
carried on by officials on executive duty, Hospital Assistants in charge of infected villages being utilised to examine
suspicious cases of illness in neighbouring villages. In June the only members of the medical staff employed
solely on obse vation duty in the Jullundur District were a Hospital Assistant, a local Hakím and four Dháis.
" Owing partly to want of staff and partly to the attitude of the people, it was not possible to establish an
observation agency in the parts of the Phillour and Nakodar fansíls which became infected for the first time this
year.
Measures taken to check plague in infected places.
" Until the number of infected villages became so great as to render it impossible for adequate supervision
to be maintained, the measures adopted in the infected
villages, with one important exception to be presently
noticed, remained essentially the same as in previous epidemics.
Isolation of sick.
Segregation of contacts.
Evacuation of villages.
" Patients were removed to hospital, contacts were
segregated, villages were evacuated, and houses and pro-
perty disinfected as formerly.
" In the early part of the epidemic inoculation was also extensively practised, but as the disease spread the
Plague Medical Officers were so much occupied with other works as to have little time for inoculating.
" These remarks apply more particularly to the Nawashahr and Garhshankar Tahsíls. In the newly infected
part of the Phillour Tahsíl the conditions which have been described* when speaking of Núrmahal prevailed for
the most part, and from May onwards the people of Nawashahr and Garhshankar Tahsíls, even, showed less
disposition than they had hitherto done to act in accordance with the instructions of officers on p\?\gue duty. The
villagers rarely raised difficulties with regard to the removal of the sick to hospital or to the segregation of the
contacts. During the latter part of the epidemic, however, they were disinclined to evacuate their villages. It was
partly for this reason, though partly also on account of insufficient staff, that many places, such as Ráhon, Behrám,
Músapur, Malúpota, Sahlon and others which would certainly have been completely evacuated under the conditions
hitherto prevailing and many of which had been vacated in former epidemics, were now only partially
evacuated.
Disinfection of property.
" The disinfection of personal property has never been a popular measure. Though in the early part of the
opidemic this was very thoroughly carried out, it was not
possible, as the disease spread, either to induce the people
to submit to it or even, had the people been willing, to carry it out effectively.
" The contents of infected houses were disinfected as formerly, but in many villages all that could be done in
houses in which no cases of plague were known to have occurred was to prevail upon the people to spread their
things out in the sun for several days.
" In the early part of the epidemic an attempt was made to disinfect all property as it removed from the
village to the camps This was found impracticable and caused great delay in evacuation of the village, and was
consequently hurriedly and often badly performed; it was therefore soon abandoned. The system of disinfect-
ing was, however, applied to the contents of infected houses wherever possible.
Disinfection of houses and villages.
"The disinfection of infected houses and villages is a measure understood and except for the injury to
their houses involved in the making of holes in the roofs
or walls, much appreciated by the people This measure
was therefore carried out in villages where little else could be done, the people themselves in many villages help-
ing in the work.
Changes in methods of disinfection.
Disinfecting gangs.
" Very considerable changes in the methods of disinfection have been introduced during the year. These
may be briefly summed up as the substitution of per-
chloride of mercury for phenyle for the disinfection of
houses, the addition of a colouring matter to the disinfectant with the object of staining the surfaces to which
it is applied, and the abandonment of lime-washing. There was a disposition too to make fewer and smaller holes
in the voofs of houses, and these were usually restricted to houses known to have been infected. Besides these
changes the organisation of disinfecting gangs was more complete than formerly. A certain number of per-
manent disinfecting gangs were formed, the members
of which, as well as those of temporary gangs, were
provided with special clothing while at work, with the object of preventing their own clothes becoming infected,
and of protecting their bodies from contact with infected material.
Núrmahal.
*"On March 31st five cases of plague were discovered at Núcmahal, a town of 8,520 inhabitants on the western boundary of the
Phillour Tahsíl, and a severe epidemic followed, lasting until June
28th, when the last reported case occurred. No less than 331 persons
were attacked here with plague, of whom 254 died. The people of Núrmahal had largely themselves to thank for this terrible
outbreak among them, for they long refused to listen to the advice of the authorities, and it was not until May 6th, by which time
150 persons had died of plague, that the town was evacuated. By this time the people of Núrmahal had become panic-stricken. In
spite of this, however, many people refused to Isolate the sick or to go to the segregation camp, and put considerable obstacles in the
way of the disinfection of their bouses, many returning to the town before the disinfection was completed."