232
[CHAP. VIII.
From June 1897 to February 1898, 3 Europeans were attacked—a Sergeant's wife living
in Wánowrie Barracks (4th November 1897) and 2 soldiers (20th and 29th January)—all
of whom recovered.
The last native case was on the 28th, and the last European on the 29th of January
1898. The total number of cases was 422 and deaths 298.
During March 1899, 5 imported cases (2 fatal) occurred, and in April indigenous plague
appeared. During May it steadily increased and ultimately developed into a severe epide-
mic, which, however, falls outside the scope of the present review. Throughout the long
period of immunity precautionary measures had not been relaxed. All arrivals by rail
from infected areas were disinfected ; all arrivals, whether by rail or road, whether from
infected areas or not, were placed under 10 days' surveillance. Special precautions were
taken to prevent infection by road :—
"To prevent the introduction of plague, by road, the Cantonment was divided into
wards, each under a supervisor. Each supervisor has a census of the inhabitants of
every house in his sub-division, and it is his duty in his daily rounds to note the
arrival of strangers from outside and to order them to attend for surveillance at one of the
hospitals."
Also to prevent infection being introduced from the City—
"To guard against introduction of plague from the City, persons were prohibited from
changing their residence from one house to another without a pass from the Chief Plague
Authority, and no empty houses could be occupied without such a pass. Such measures
can only be partially successful, as with plague in the City it is purely a question of time its
spreading to the Cantonment. The two are now practically one town : along the Bháwani
Peth road there is really no break in the houses. Hundreds of people work in the Canton-
ment in the day and return to their houses in the City in the evening. Many Cantonment
residents have relations in the City and vice vereâ, and it is practically impossible to prevent
them from exchanging visits and spending a night or so in each other's houses. In this
way infection is continually being introduced; it may for a time with disinfection be kept
back, but eventually some area must become infected."
The measures taken to ensure early detection of the disease were—
1. Certificates of death signed by a Commissioned Medical Officer before burial.
2. Daily list of sick made out by Ward Supervisors : the sick being visited by a
Plague Medical Officer.
As regards the measures introduced, the Chairman, Poona Cantonment Plague Com-
mittee, reports—
"Disinfection and ventilation.—In the Cantonment the only method followed was to
saturate the floors with an acidulated solution of perchloride of mercury, strength 1 to 1,000;
the same solution was squirted over the walls and ceilings of all infected buildings, and all
articles of clothing, not burnt, which might reasonably be supposed to be infected, were
dipped into buckets of the solution. The tiles were removed, where, by so doing, sunlight
could reach the infected rooms, and the houses were vacated for a period of 10 days, the doors
and windows being left open. After the disinfected houses had dried from the perchloride
solution, they were whitewashed.
"Evacuation.—This was not tried during the year under report.
"Inoculation.—On the 12th April last arrangementes were made to carry on inoculation
against plague. The necessary serum was obtained from Professor Haffkine's Laboratory,
Bombay, and two private practitioners, Dr. Mody and Dr. Erasmus Dias, very kindly con-
sented to carry on the work free of charge. A notice was issued to the public in English
and Maráthi, inviting them to be inoculated, but at that time there were only a few sporadic
cases of plague in the Cantonment, and the fear of infection was not sufficient to induce
people to undergo the operation. Shortly afterwards, Dr. Erasmus Dias (on his own