Prevalent
diseases.
Fever.
Seasonal
prevalence
124
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
Sickness,
mortality,
and invaliding.
XV. Sickness, mortality, and invaliding. Strength of Regiment, present 386.15 ; absent
69.86; total 456.01.
STATION.
PERIOD
S t r e n g t h .
TOTAL NUM-
BER OF
D a i l y a v e r a g e n u m b e r o f s i c k .
PERCENTAGE OF
STRENGTH PER AN-
NUM.
From
To
Admis-
sions.
D e a t h s .
Admis-
sions.
D e a t h s .
D a i l y a v e r a g e o f s i c k .
Mooltan . . .
1st Jan. . . .
31st Dec. . . .
386.15
958
5 .
29.35 248.09
1.29
7.6
Number of deaths in hospital, 5; out of hospital 0; total 5 : per cent of total strength . . .
1.09
" invalided . . . 21; " " " . . .
4.60
" s e n t o n s i c k l e a v e . . . 1 1 ; " " " . . .
2.41
" of days spent in hospital, 10,713 ; per admission, 11.18 ; per man " " . . .
23.49
" " " on sick leave, 1,204 ; per man 109.4; " " " . . .
2.64
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength . . .
26.13
Type of
the disease.
Causation.
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. I. Miasmatic— Of the 958 cases admitted into
hospital during the year, 636 were caused by intermittent fever, being a ratio of 66.38 per
cent of total admissions of these 624 were of the quotidian, and only 12 of the tertian type.
As in the preceding year, fever sheaved itself in force in the month of August. Up to
the 16th of the month there had been only 13 admissions, but by the 31st the admissions amount
-
ed to 122. In September there were 207 admissions, in October 114, in November 47, and in
December only 12. The largest number admitted on one day was 15, and that was on the 31st
August.
The admissions during the first half of the year amounted to 121, and during the latter
half to 515; and during the correspond
-ing periods of the preceding year res
-
pectively to 50 and 632. The difference
in the number of admissions in the first
halves of the two years is accounted for
by the fact that the regiment arrived
here in January 1873 off a march, and
from a healthy station, whereas in 1874
the men had become predisposed to the
fever, having suffered from it extensively
during the previous six months. The
difference in the latter halves is not so
easy of explanation. Under ordinary
circumstances, the men having been sub
-
jected to two successive outbreaks, the
admissions during the last six months of
1874 ought to have exceeded those of
the same period of 1873. The reverse
was, however, the case. The largest num
-
ber of admissions was in the month of
August, September and October, viz., 122, 207, and 114, respectively. Such was also the case
in 1873 when the admissions were 102, 296, and 154. In both years September was the
most sickly month, and the outbreak began to abate about the third week of October. The
marginal table shows the monthly admissions during the years 1873-74.
Of the fever previous to August, I am unable tospeak from personal experience, but from
the records it appears to have been of a very ordinary kind, due to climatic changes, in no way
characteristic and readily amenable to ordinary treatment. The disease, as observed in August and
during the subsequent months, was of a true malarious character and distinguished by the sequelæ
characteristic of that type of fever. Enlargement of the spleen was the predominant complica
-
tion—indeed freedom from it was the exception and the extent to which this organ was affect
-
ed I have only seen exceeded in Bengal. Young and old, men, women and children, Europeans,
Eurasians and Natives, strong and weak, were attacked; sleeping in or out of doors seemed to
make no difference. There was no apparent cause in the station, and all suffered alike from
great depression during and after the attack. As a result of my observations
I h a v e n o h e s i t a -
t i o n i n a s c r i b i n g t o t h i s f e v e r a m a l a r i o u s o r i g i n , a n d f o r t h e s o u r c e o f t h e p o i s o n w e h a v e t o l o o k
outside the station, but not far. From the north to the south-west the river Chenab runs in
variable proximity to the station—at one point to the west it is within four miles. This river,
in common with all the rivers of this part of the Punjab and Sindh, has low banks more or less
overgrown with thick scrub jungle, and which during two or three months of the year are sub
-
merged for many miles. On the subsidence of the inundation at about the same period
ADMISSIONS.
1873.
1874.
January . . .
5
19
February . . .
3
13
March . . .
3
15
April . . .
9
12
May . . .
8
33
June . . .
22
29
July . . .
3
13
August . . .
102
122
September . . .
296
207
October . . .
154
114
November . . .
48
47
December . . .
29
12
682
636