Commercial. No. 38 (1883). Further reports by Surgeon-General Hunter on the cholera epidemic in Egypt. [In continuation of "Commercial no. 29 (1883)."].

  • Hunter, W. G.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Commercial. No. 38 (1883). Further reports by Surgeon-General Hunter on the cholera epidemic in Egypt. [In continuation of "Commercial no. 29 (1883)."]. 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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    were attacked in a similar manner, including some of the members of his household, but that they recovered. Case 2. Wardi Ali, a woman aged about 60, was attacked in a similar manner on the 12th May and died. Case 3. Fatoum Ali Ahmet, attacked on the 20th May and died. A few children and some men were reported to me to have died during the same month from a similar disease, but I was unable to authenticate the cases. About the same period an event occurred which, owing to the peculiar circum- stances attending it, is known to almost everybody here (Assiout). It took place at El Wasta, a small village about 2 miles from Assiout, on the east bank of the Nile. A man named Girges Sulieman, the Government Cashier of the village, another named Ibraihim Aacdonc, clerk to the former, and a third, named Omar Tuha, the Omdi of El Wasta, were attacked by severe diarrhoea, vomiting, cramp, and coldness of extremities. The first named died the day after being attacked, the two others recovered and are still alive. Thev attributed the attack to secret poisoning, as is always the case when a death occurs suddenly and the cause is unknown, as was the case in this instance, as it occurred long before cholera was declared at Damietta, and consequently before they had it in mind here. About the 20th June the malady became very frequent here, but was not more severe than before, but it prevailed among the people in general and attacked the upper classes, among whom many authentic cases can be certified to. Mrs. Wisa Portor, wife of one of the wealthiest of the Coptic Notables, was severely attacked about the 17th or 18th June. Two or three days after her daughter and son-in-law, Akrwuk Janous Effendi, were attacked in like manner. These people are now out of town, but 1 verified these statements from their friends and from Ur. Mazarakis who treated them. Between the 20th and 26th June, that is before anything could have been im- ported here from Damietta, the following persons were attacked by the same illness :— Shnonde el Mankabodi, assistant to the Superintendent of Nile steamers. His sister, Mrs. Nashed Effendi Sidry. Mr. Habib Shnonde. Mr, Jadros Minyhirios, and many others. All these mentioned read the newspapers and were astonished at being attacked by the same illness which had occurred at Damietta, being aware that it can only be caught by contagion. Death from the malady seems to have been rare at that period, or, at least, among the well-off and well-known people, but the following cases prove that it was fatal in some instances:— Abdo Butros, aged 20 years, the grandson of the storekeeper of the Govern- ment School here, died on the 15th Shahban (corresponding to 2(Jth June) from an attack of diarrhoea and vomiting, lasting one night. Sahida, a black servant of Mr. Ayoub Hanna, died on the 11th June from an attack of severe rice water diarrhoea without vomiting, which lasted two days. In addition to this the increased mortality during the months of May and June of this year, as shown by the Government registers, taken in connection with the large number of attacks, tends to show that mortality from the disease was more frequent than was heard of, otherwise there is no accounting for it. Diphtheria seems to have existed, but only twenty deaths during the two months are recorded, as due to this disease. The following is a comparative list of deaths during the months of the last three years, as registered in the Government books ;— 1881. 1882. 1883. January 98 116 85 February 71 77 77 March . 71 67 91 April .. 71 46 91 May .. 75 68 120 June .. 60 72 116 July .. 63 71 113 August 86 70 167 K 2 [1314]
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