4o
inoculation does not confer any great degree of protection within thu
first few days.
11. Inoculation sïiould be encouraged wherever possible and in
particular among disinfecting staffs and the attendants of plague
hospitals. In places which, either owing to their nearness to plague-
infected places or to their having previously suffered from an attack
of plague, appear to be specially threatened with a visitation of the
disease, no effort should "be spared to explain to the people the advan-
tage of being inoculated before the disease is among them and to
secure the co-operation.of the more enlightened members of the com-
munities. At the same time, no compulsion of any sort, direct or
indirect, should be used. An awkward attempt at persuasion is liable
to create opposition, resistance, and occasionally, unfounded appre-
hension, and great circumspection is necessary in introducing* inocula-
tion in places where there is no demand for it. The District.
Magistrate should be consulted before starting inoculation at any
place and the people should be distinctly warned that inoculation is
not a certain prophylactic, but that it considerably reduces the chances
of getting plague, that an inoculated person when attacked has
increased chances of recovery, and that the process, if properly
conducted, is harmless.
12. Only trained and reliable persons should be entrusted with the
actual operation of inoculation, and supervision should, be exercised
over them to ensure that they use only sterilized implements. To
remove any possible ground for distrust as to the conveyance of disease
from one person to another, the inoculation syringe should be
sterilized in the preseace of the person about to be inoculated. The
sterilization should be effected by immersion in carbolic acid, or
preferably carbolized oil kept hot by the flame of a spirit lamp
underneath. After a bottle has once been opened and only a portion
of its contents used, the remainder should invariably be thrown away.
13. Inoculated persons' should be furnished with certificates in
the prescribed form. The certificate should bear the left thumb mark
of the person inoculated and should be issued immediately after one
full dose has been given, but the recipient should be recommended to
return for a second inoculation after ton days. The full dose should
always be given at one time, unless for medical reasons it is con-
sidered advisable to divide it. If it is necessary to do this, a certifi-
cate should not be given until the equivalent of two full doses has
been given. If, however, no undue reaction ensues after the first
fractional dose has been taken, it is advisable to give the full
dose at once on the second occasion, after which a certificate may
be given.
14. The privileges attached fco inoculation are mentioned in Regu-
lation 25. They are not admissible in cases of persons who have
recovered from plague. As a further encouragement the Government
have authorized the grant of three days' extra casual leave on full
pay to all public servants for the purpose of being inoculated.
Students attending Government and aided schools, who undergo
inoculation, will be marked in the registers for not more than three
consecutive days as " under inoculation," and such an entry will be
regarded as equivalent to attendance.