Appendix V. to the second report on quarantine : report of Dr. W.H. Burrell on the plague of Malta in 1813.

  • Great Britain. General Board of Health
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Appendix V. to the second report on quarantine : report of Dr. W.H. Burrell on the plague of Malta in 1813. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    Two of tlie crew of the above-mentioned ' Xebeck' attended and nursed their fellow sailor in free communication with him, and remained in perfect good health. (One guardian placed on board.) 1840. H.M. Steamer 'Acheron' frorn Alexandria. On the 27th of April 1840, Her Majesty's Steamer ' Acheron,' Lieutenant Kennedy, commander, arrived from Alexandria with a foul Bill of Health, in seven days, with forty-eight persons in crew and eighteen passengers ; having brought the mails, several parcels and letters, and two horses ; all well on board. On the 29th, early in the morning, the health guard, who was put on board the ' Acheron' on the day of her arrival, reported to the captain of the Lazaretto that one of the crew (a boy) during the night, at about nine p.m., died, and that one of the stewards was seriously ill. The commander received directions to land in the Lazaretto both the corpse and the sick steward, and having been duly examined by the Quarantine physician, evident symptoms of plague were observed on them. Days on whicli Names of Persons. Were attacked. Died. ]iemarks. William Martingall, boy . Wm. Humphrey, steward. 27 April 27 „ 28 April 2 May . Bubo and petechise. J Bubo on the arm-pit and on \ the neck. The two persons who attended and nursed them remained quite well. The first case appeared in the cabin boy, William Martin- gale, fourteen years of age, on the 26th, while the vessel was at sea. This boy had free commimication with the shore, and accompanied some Arab boys to the country on the 20th of April, the day previous to the steam vessel leaving Egypt. This case terminated fatally in forty hours fi-om seizure, and the dead body was placed in the Lazaretto on the morning of the 28th of April, that the nature of the disease, which was then considered doubtful, might be determined. The steward also sickened on the 26th, he was removed into the Lazaretto, at the same time with the body of the boy. Tlie assistant-surgeon was about this time (2d May) attacked with fever, and it was feared he had been infected, but it proved otherwise.