Reports and papers on suspected cases of human plague in East Suffolk and on an epizootic of plague in rodents.
- Date:
- 1911
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Reports and papers on suspected cases of human plague in East Suffolk and on an epizootic of plague in rodents. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![PART I. Introductory Remarks. On the afternoon of October 2nd, 1910, the Board recen’ed information from Dr. Sleigh, medical officer of health of the Samford Rural District, relative to the death at Preston in that district of four persons fiom what was regarded locally as pneumonic plague, under circumstances which pointed to the con- clusion that the disease had spread from person to person by iu- fe»-tion. The medical officer of health added that the source of the disease remained a mystery, the patient first attacked not having been out of the district, and there being no evidence to indicate that infection had been introduced into the district from without. It had been observed, he stated, that a great many rats were dying in the neighbourhood, a circumstance which lie thought might be explained by the custom which obtained among the farmers of laying down rat poison at that time of year. All persons who had been in contact with the patients were being kept under observation, and all infected premises and articles had been disinfected. Fpon receipt of tliis communication I was instructed to visit the locality to make inqiiiries into the outbreak. This I did early on the following morning (October 3rd), and the investigation involved, together with the subsequent develojuuonts, occupied the whole of my time for the next three months. Topography and Circumstances of the Invaded Area. The accompanying mail (which faces p. 40) will serve to show that the eastern juirtion of the Samford Rural District in which these (Hsnirrences took jdace forms in effect a peninsula between the estuaries of the Orwell and the Stour, the base of the penin- sula, if so it may be termed, being the Great Pastern Railway line between Ipswich and Manningtree. 'i'his topographical circumstance is of importance, since it means that this portion of the Samford Rural District is in a measure shut off by the Orwell on the north and east and by the Stour on the south. The remainder of the administrative district extends some miles inland, its total length from east to west being about 15 miles, and its greatest width from north to south about 9 miles. At its north-western extremitj’ the district abuts for some three miles upon the countj' borough of Ip.swich. The hou.se first invaded by the disease {see A on map) was the central one of a row of three cottages known as “ Latimer Cottages,” which are situated a few yards back from the Holbrook Road, at a ])oint about a mile to the south-east of its junction with the road to Chelmon- diston and Shotley. These cottages are distant about 4 miles from Ipswich, 3 from Chelmondiston, and IJ in a direct line from the estuary of the Orwell. Ipswich, a county borough with some 75,000 inhabitants, is a port at which a large number of grain-laden vessels from foreign](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22431937_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
