3
She was attacked on March 8th and died in her house on March 14th.
Be-
tween March 20th and 24th dead rats were found in several of the Soutárs'
houses, whereupon the whole quarter was evacuated, and the occupants camped
in the field.
The first case of plague occurred among the Soutárs on March 29th after
they had been a week in sheds, and between this date and May 6th 31 cases
were reported.
In this instance also the vehicle of infection was probably the bedding and
clothing.
This theory is offered as a probable explanation of the origin of plague in
Kosumba as in the two villages of Abrama and Tithal above mentioned. That
an epidemic among rats preceded the outbreak among the people is certain, but
the origin of the epidemic among rats is doubtful, and the theory here put for-
ward admits of no direct proof. Plague was present in the táluka of Bulsár from
the end of January to the first week in June, but prevailed in epidemic form
from the middle of March to the middle of May.
9. Chart B shows the progress of plague in the táluka.
Up to the beginning of March all the cases of plague in the táluka were
imported from Bombay or Bulsár, but from March 1st the disease appeared
locally in the villages, but in only 8 villages did the disease attain epidemic
proportions, all these villages being within a radius of five miles from Bulsár.
B.—Plague preventive operations.
10. Hired labour was not available in the villages, and the work of disin-
fection had to be entrusted to house-owners themselves or to the police.
Consequently the same thoroughness could not be ensured in the villages as
in the town.
The inhabitants of plague stricken villages, however, helped to check the
spread of plague by readily vacating their houses on the first appearance of
disease and, with few exceptions, offered no objections to, and with their own
hands often carried out, the proposed measures of disinfection.
Chief reliance was at first placed on prompt evacuation of houses and
opening of them up to light and air, followed by lime washing, before re-occu-
pation was allowed ; and where these measures were promptly carried out
there was no great spread of disease.
At a later period, when disinfection by corrosive sublimate was introduced
into the town, similar measures were adopted in the villages ; but Jeye's Fluid
was substituted for corrosive sublimate as no accurate measurments of ingre-
dients are necessary in the use of Jeye's Fluid, the only instructions necessary
being to mix sufficient of the Jeye's Fluid with water to form a milky solution,
which will be strong enough for all purposes. Disinfection with Jeye's Fluid
was begun in the táluka during the first week in April.
Segregation of sick und
healthy.
11. As before stated, the people of the villages willingly and promptly left
their nouses on the first appearance ot plague, and
showed equal eagerness in segregating all sick persons,
so much so that in many cases the slightest symptom
or indisposition became a pretext ior isolation.
With such anxiety on the part of the people to check any spread of plague,
all idea of a central or a group of central hospitals was abandoned, and every
village and hamlet was allowed separate segregation sheds.
It was found that isolation of the sick at a distance of even 20 or 30 yards
from the healthy answered every purpose, and deprived the most obstinate of
any excuse for concealment of disease.
C.—Medical Aspects.
The disease presented the same features in the táluka as in the town, and
some of the last cases which occurred were characterized by the same severity
as during the height of the epidemic.