Report on the outbreak of plague at Sydney [1900-1907] / by J. Ashburton Thompson, Chief Medical Officer of the Government and President of the Board of Health.
- New South Wales. Department of Public Health
- Date:
- 1900-1908
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Report on the outbreak of plague at Sydney [1900-1907] / by J. Ashburton Thompson, Chief Medical Officer of the Government and President of the Board of Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![exception ; but this was Gray's stables, Waterloo (see Keport, 1903, par. 25), and a similar explanation applied to it. A])oui TOO horses were stabled there ; the necessarily large anti frequent snpplies of fodder required for them were purchased in Sussex-street, and the infection did not reappear at the stables nntil long after the epizootic of that year had declared itself in Sussex-street. All evidence has gone directly against such persistence, and against the view that plague is a disease of locality in that sense {see also pars. 40-1 below). The infection is localised in the rat. But I have not been able to see in the facts observed at Sydney evidence that it can persist in the rat in a chronic form which might serve as the starting point of a fresh and virulent outbreak, nor, in Dr, Tidswell's opinion, has a prolonged and carefully observed lal)oratory experience furnished any. 17. Of the 41 premises which yielded plague-rodents, 2 only were in private occupation. One of these stood next to a builder's yard, distant from the centre (see Diagram No. 11), where there was a small stable, wliich was also (probably first) infected, and from ^vhicli rats could easily pass to it; no doubt the same horde infested both properties. Infection was carried to stables at the other private house 2)67' saltum from the Darling Harbour centre (see Cases L and M below). Fifteen of the remainder were classed as produce stores, 13 having been of that description, while 1 was a grist-mill and 1 a seedsman's; 12 of these stood on the water-side of Sussex-street. Other 14 were classed as wharves, and stores connected with wharves, 1 of them actually having been a small steamer lying alongside a Avharf, and most probably infected from it. Then 2 others were timber-yards having water-frontage, 1 a builder's yard (mentioned above), 1 a distant paper-mill, 1 a general carrier's, 1 a wool-store, 1 a slop shop, 1 a show-room in an arcade, 1 the extensive basement beneath the same arcade, and 1 a public house. The infected cat came from another public house (making 42 places altogether) which yielded no rats. So that plague- rats were found only at places commonly infested with rats, with a few exceptions ; and in some of those exceptions merchandise was known to have been imported to them from infected premises. 18. The position of the above-mentioned ])laces is shown on the accompanying Diagram by spots which have been numbered consecutively in the order of date on which a plague-infected rodent was first observed at each of them; and in a table printed on the Diagram the addresses of tlie places are given. These have been consecutively numbered to agree with the numbers attached to the spots, and against each is mentioned, not only the first date on which a plague-infected animal was found at it, but also the last date. These two dates do not in all cases represent a continuous infection, and probably have resulted sometimes from reinvasion. By comparison of the numbers and dates thus given, Avith assistance of the Diagram itself, it is possible to follow the apparent course of the epizootic ; but close acquaintance with local conditions, which cannot profitably be made the subject of a description, is necessary to avoid error. Further reference to this part of the subject, therefore, is not made. 19. The 12 cases of plague in man, which were met with in the course of the epizootic, were notified from 11 dwellings. Nine of the patients w^ere adjudged to have been infected at their places of employment, the other 3 at their dwellings; but 1 of the latter was also employed away from home. Ten places of employment are therefore shown on the Diagram by the capital letters A, B, &c.; and 11 dwellings by the corresponding lower-case letters enclosed witliin a circle. Some houses in both of these classes stood on areas which did not fall within the limits of the Diagram, but a marginal note sufficiently indicates their situation. The number of adjudged places of infection was but 9, 3 cases having been associated in place with three of the others. 20. The circumstances under which the 12 patients received the infection were as follows. It will be observed that the clinical diagnosis w^as corroborated by the Microbiologist in every case by microscopical and cultural examinations, and that in some of them the test by inoculation was also employed :— Case A. Summary.—O.G., m., aet. 15, unmarried, errand-boy. No former attack ; not inoculated ; had had no communication with any previous case, nor with any sick person during 10 days before attack at least. Kesidence, 7, Isabella-street, Balmain, a suburb about 2 miles (in a straight line and across water) nortli- westerly from his place of employment, which was at 157, Sussex-street, a prockice store. Notified by Dr. Shirlow, 10th March, 1 p.m. ; visited by the Assistant Medical Officer of the Government (Dr. R. J. Millard, LLB., D.P.H.), at Balmain, 2 p.m.; admitted to hospital 10th March, discharged 21st April; duration of illness, 44 thiys. Bight femoral bubo ; morphological, cultural, and inoculation tests positive. Movements](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21354704_0237.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
