Cholera in Indian cantonments and how to deal with it : written for the use of Cantonment magistrates, medical officers and others interested in the question / by E.H. Hankin.

  • Ernest Hanbury Hankin
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cholera in Indian cantonments and how to deal with it : written for the use of Cantonment magistrates, medical officers and others interested in the question / by E.H. Hankin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which wells have been responsible' for the out- break. The test is in such a case not too certain, both because degenerated cholera microbes are sometimes, but not often, carried from one well to another, and because these degenerated mi- crobes are somewhat difficult to test for and recog- nize. Hence in all cases advantage should be taken of bacteriological tests in investigating an outbreak, either while it is going on or as soon as possible after its cessation. The fact that water contains the cholera mi- crobe is no reason for thinking that drinking it must necessarily be able to produce cholera even in a small percentage of the population. For it to be able to produce infection other conditions are necessary. It is not possible to be certain what these conditions are, but it is very probable that the chief determining conditions are those influ- encing the quantity and the virulence of the microbe. If the microbe is not fully virulent, it is likely that infection can only be produced if the microbe is present in comparatively large quantities. If it is fully virulent it is, d priori^ likely that far smaller doses will be capable of producing infection. It is possible that among conditions influencing the quantity are the tem- perature, and the amount and nature of the available food materials. An analysis of the evi- dence at my disposal shows that the cessation of the cholera epidemic that has always followed the disinfection of wells in villages, is in many cases
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