3
So that, in a small town of little more than 3,000 houses, seven segregation
hospitals were in use by the end of March. The style of shed built as a hospital
was primitive in the extreme ; but the rapid spread of the epidemic, added to
want of labour, gave no time for the erection of more elaborate structures.
Sheds for the segregation of the healthy were also provided ; but as neither
Power nor means were available to enforce segregation in any one place, these
Sheds were not much used at first.
19. However, as many people willingly left their houses to camp in sheds
3f their own more conveniently situated than the municipal sheds, every en-
ïouragement was given them.
20. During the first month, i.e., up to the last
House Disinfection. Week in March, the routin practice of disinfection
was as follows :—
(1) Fumigation for three hours with sulphur and tar which, although
probably of little use in the majority of houses, was a source of confidence
to the labourers.
(2) Removal and burning of rubbish. In some houses this operation
took two or three clays,
(3) Disinfection of floors, furniture, clothing, &c., with chloride of
lime.
(4) Lime-washing of the entire building.
(5) Opening up the house to sun and air for a month.
This plan proved perfectly successful, as shown by the fact that no
fresh cases of plague occurred in the houses so treated after the return of
the occupants.
21. It had, however, several disadvantages :—
(1) It took up too much time. The only labourers available were
Kaliparáj people, recruited by force from the 'neighbouring villages ; and
these men, absolutely untrained, had to be paid the wages of skilled work-
men to prevent them decamping in a body. It was impossible to get
together more than 150 labourers on an average, who had to build sheds
for the sick and healthy and disinfect and clean houses, and consequently
the work in the town fell hopelessly into arrears.
(2) It was expensive in labour and material.
(3) It necessitated a prolonged evacuation of the houses. This, in my
opinion, was the greatest drawback, as sufficient shed accommodation could
not be put up, nor were there any means of keeping the people in the sheds.
Many people put up temporary shelters in their own yards, but more sought
shelter with relatives or friends, thereby conveying the germs of disease
from one quarter of the town to another.
22. Some simpler plan of attack was necessary in order to combat the
rapid extension of the disease, and therefore, acting on the belief that the virus
of plague is conveyed from house to house chiefly by human beings and rats,
it was decided to try some simple and efficient disinfectant only and abandon
all more elaborate operations.
Corrosive sublimate had been used with good results in other places as a
preliminary disinfectant, and it was resolved to trust to it only, believing that,
if it was effective in destroying the virus of plague, no further treatment of a
house would be necessary.
The first quarter of the town to be experimented on was the Nana Taivad,
containing 141 houses, of which 2 / 3 were occupied by about 300 Mahomedans.
This quarter was badly affected at the time, and all the people vacating
their houses moved into sheds.
Every house was then washed down inside and out with a solution of corro-
sive sublimate (1 to 1,000) by means of hand pumps. Every article of furniture,
bedding and clothing found in the houses was similarly disinfected.