HISTORY OF THE BUBONIC PLAGUE IN AHMEDNAGAR,, WITH
AN ACCOUNT OF THE MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT
THE SPREAD OP THE DISEASE.
Mortality from Plague in
Nagar Town and District.
There has praetically been no bubonic plague in the town or district of
Ahmednagar, except some 45 imported cases which
arrived from infected centres, and which, owing per-
haps in some measure to the precautions which were
taken as soon as they were discovered, were happily not folio wad by any out-
break of the epidemic. It is true that three local cases are included in the
table of mortality from plague given in Appendix I attached to this report.
These cases were reported from Nimbral, in Akola táluka, where two imported
cases were brought from Bombay. The deceased were, it is believed, relatives
of the plague-stricken persons who came from Bombay. But owing to the
remote situation of the scene of these attacks, information was not received
concerning them till some time after they occurred; and the particulars since
ascertained do not show how far the circumstances of the cases justify their
being classed as local. Apart from these three deaths, 45 cases were recorded,
of which 32 proved fatal. More than half of these patients, viz., 25, were at-
tacked within the limits of Ahmednagar City, of whom 10 recovered under
treatment and 15 succumbed to the disease. Surgeon-Major Stevenson is
preparing for the medical authorities a record of these cases, and will no doubt
deal fully with the technical aspects of the disease in so far as they could be
observed in this district from, the imported cases which occurred. It will
therefore be sufficient if this account is restricted to a description of the pre-
cautionary measures adopted in the town and district from the time when the
risk of plague spreading to these parts was first apprehended.
Precautionary measures in
Nagar Town.
2 Khan Sáheb Edulji Rustomji, the Vice-President of the Ahmednagar
Municipality, has recorded in two very full reports
the various steps which were taken at Ahniednagar
by the Municipality either spontaneously or in re-
sponse to suggestions from the local authorities. I propose to summarize the
substance of these communications, supplementing portions with notes on points
such as the working of the quarantine arrangements, which were outside the
scope of municipal management, and the like, and completing the record by a
short description of the measures adopted simultaneously at places in the
district other than the Head-quarter town. In the present state of medical
knowledge concerning the causes and circumstances leading to an outbreak of
bubonic plague, it would perhaps be going too far to suggest that the measures
adopted in this district prevented the spread of the disease from Bombay and
Poona to Ahmednagar by means of infected passengers by road and rail. The
assertion may, however, be hazarded that the steps taken appreciably diminished
the risks of such a misfortune ; and it must in consequence be admitted that
the Ahmednagar Municipality have thus deserved much credit for the attitude
which they adopted both in originating measures of defence, and in seconding
such efforts as were made by the authorities to avert the spread of infection.
Special powers taken by
the Ahmednagar Municipal-
lity.
3. In the month of October 1896, the attention of the Nagar Munici-
pality was drawn to the unusual mortality in Mán Ivi,
the scene of the outbreak in Bombay, and they
decided that it was desirable to take immediate pre-
cautions against the importation of the disease by
rail. The preliminary but necessary step was therefore taken of applying to
Government under Section 73 of Act VI of 1873 for special powers, and sanc-
tion to the same was duly received by telegram on October 17th.
Examination of arrivals at
Nagar Railway Station.
4. The Municipality thereupon appointed a Hospital Assistant fco examine
at Ahmednagar Railway btation all passengers
alighting from the trains, A plague hospital was
simultaneously provided in the Siddhi Bágh, outside
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