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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![bubonic type in the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, but a discussion as to this can hardly be embarked upon in the present report. It may, however, be added that pneumonic plague appcai-s to have played a far more important part in the spread of plague at certain phases of several past epidemics than is commonly believed. The Seasonal Behaviour of Blague tn Great Britain. In view of the uncertainty which obviously obtains as regards the future with respect both to rodent and human plague, it will be useful to indicate by such figures as are avail- able the months of the year during which in the past human plague has mainly prevailed in this country. It may be pointed out that most of the acute infectious diseases manifest a marked seasonal behaviour, some of such diseases, of which small-pox may be taken as an example, preA'ailing mainly in the winter months, while others, like enteric fever and scarlet fever, prevail more i)articularly in the late summer and autumn months. In the case of plague its seasonal behaviour differs in eastern and western countries. In China and India* the malady reaches its height during the winter months, and in Egypt the disease appears in autumn and dies out in June. In this country and in the western parts of Europe the chief manifestations of the disease have been in the summer and autiimn months. In other words plague in Western Europe tends to die down in cold wintry weather. In the East it is otherwise especially w'ith pneumonic plague where, as in Manchuria, plague may prevail in the presence of intense (bhl. Going back as regards London to the first Bill of Mortality extant, that for the year 1563, the average weekly mortalities recorded from plague alone were as follows: — Year. Month. Average Weekly Mortality. Year. Month. Average Weekly Mortality. 1563 June 22 1564 January 24 „ ••• July 112 »l ••• ••• February 19 August 596 March 6 September 1,351 ft ••• April 4 October 1,165 May 3 November 363 Juno 2 »» ••• ••• December 184 In 1578 the deaths were most numerous at the end of September, in 1579 at the end of August, in 1580 in the middle of June, in 1581 in the middle of September, and in 1582 in the middle of October, t ® See charts showing seasonal prevalence of Plague in Bombay and Calcutta. Reports and Papers on Bubonic Plague by Dr. R. Bruce Low, with introduction by the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board, 1902 [Cd. 748], price 4/1. f The Climatic Conditions necessary for the Propagation and spread of Plague—by Baldwin Latham. History of Epidemics—Creighton.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22431937_0036.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
