Principal
causes of
sickness.
Causes of
diminished
sickness.
PUNJAB FRONTIER FORCE.
173
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number of
sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis -
sions. Deaths.
Admis -
sions. Deaths.
Daily
average
sick.
Head-quarters at Kobat
. 1st Jan. 1877 18th Aug. 1877
355.41 420
4
15.30 118.17 1.12 4.30
Ditto ditto
. 6th Dec. „ 31st Dec. „
Detachment with head-
quarters at Gumbut
. 19th Aug. „ 5th Dec. , ,
Detachment at Kohat
.
Ditto
.
Ditto
.
Ditto at Bahadur Kheyl 1st Jan. „ 31st Dec. „
17.42 10
. . .
.15 57.40 ... .86
Ditto at Abbottabad .
Ditto
. 16th Feb. ,,
30.45
6 ...
.30 33.30 . . .
.98
Ditto ditto
. 23rd Mar. „ 7th Sep. „
TOTAL
.
...
...
390.64 436
4
15.75 111.09 1.02 4.03
Number of deaths in hospital, 4; out of hospital, 4; total .
8; per cent. of total strength.
.
1.63
„ invalided
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
18;
, ,
, ,
. .
3.68
„ sent on sick leave .
.
.
,
.
,
,
8;
„
, ,
.
1.63
, ,
of days spent in hospital, 5,743 ; per admission
. 13.17; per man of total strength .
. 11.71
, ,
on sick leave, 1,032; per man
. 129;
, ,
„
.
.
2.10
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
. 13.81.
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —The chief diseases occurring during the year have
been the various forms of fever, diseases of the chest and bowels, contusions, ulcers and boils.
The general type of sickness has been mild, and the number of admissions during the year, 436,
have been less than for years past. I ascribe this to the comparative mildness of the cold season
and consequent absence of grave chest complaints; also to the dryness of the latter months
of the hot season causing a great diminution of the number of cases of malarial fever ; and
lastly; to the active service on which the regiment was employed from the latter end of August,
which seems to have eliminated a good deal of sickness inseparable from cantonment life.
During the latter months of the year, which are usually the most sickly, and when the regiment
was actively employed, the admissions averaged 34 a month against 37.7 a month during the
period the regiment was in cantonments. The fever admissions, 168, show a decrease of 195
from the admissions from the same cause in 1876. During the spring, owing to the unseason-
ableness of the weather, catarrhs and bronchial complaints were very prevalent, but a small
proportion of these cases only came to hospital, and they were of a comparatively mild
character: The other troops in garrison seem to have suffered more or less in the same way.
Diarrhoea and dysentery were more prevalent during the latter months of the year, and several
cases occurred among the men employed on patrol, duty ; but, save in one or two instances, they
were of a mild character, and yielded readily to treatment. During the last three months of
the year several cases of indolent ulcers occurred among the men who had been employed on
patrol duties or inside the hills. They presented the usual characters of the Delhi boil; they
occurred chiefly ou the legs and hands, were mostly accompanied with a scorbutic taint, and
were ascribed by the men themselves to abrasions, caused by scratching the bites of insects and
subsequent contact with the dirt, manure, &c., of the places in which they were located. Their
true cause is difficult to trace, owing to the few men affected and their frequent change of
locality. The diet of the men, their habits as to cleanliness, and the drinking. water, have each
had possibly a share in producing them. They appeared much more prominently among some
of the other troops employed on the same service, and will doubtless be noticed in the annual
reports of those regiments in which they appeared.
XVII .Principal causes of mortality. —Four deaths took place in hospital during the year,
being 0.91 per cent. on the admissions. They were from pneumonia, hypertrophy of spleen,
with leucocythemia; remittent fever, complicated with jaundice and synovitis of knee-joint,
the immediate cause of death in this case being an embolus in right ventricle. Four, deaths
also occurred out of hospital, one of which was a case of suicide in the regimental lines, and three
men died at their homes on furlough. The total number of deaths in and out of hospital in
1876 was seven, being 1.43 per cent. of strength. One man of the 17th Bengal Cavalry died
in the regimental hospital from the effects of a lumbar abscess. The man was on leave at his
home in the neighbourhood, and was brought to the regimental hospital for treatment.
Bowel
complaints.
Delhi boils (?)
Principal
causes of
mortality.
Their Special
chest remarks.
XXI. Special re
marks.—Forty-five recruits were entertained during the year average age was 19 years 9 months; average height 5 feet 7.71inches, and average
meaasurement 33.12 inches, their physique being fairly good.
T 1
i