Report on the outbreak of the plague at Sydney, 1900 / by the Chief Medical Officer of the Government and President of the Board of Health.

  • Thompson, J. Ashburton (John Ashburton), 1848-1915.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on the outbreak of the plague at Sydney, 1900 / by the Chief Medical Officer of the Government and President of the Board of Health. 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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    The policy of indiscriminate removal of both patients and contacts was adhered to till the end of the epidemic; patients were strictly isolated from contacts; contacts after bathing and changing to clean clothes were housed in common—that is, without reference to dates of exposure; inoculation was otTered to them on arrival at quarantine, but was rarely accepted, and the term of their detention Avas five days, except quite at the l)eginning, when it was ten. Convalescents were discharged as soon as (a) they had liad a normal temperature for ten days, (b) provided they liad no unhealed soro, and (c) were in general respects fit for discharge. The three clergymen who resided at Quarantine and acted as chaplains (Rev. Pather le Mesurier from March 22nd; the Rev. J. F. Moran from April 7th; the Rev. Alan McDougal from April 3rd), the medical stafi, the con- sulting medical officer (Mr. C. P. E. Clubbe), and medical men who desired to study the disease, were allowed to enter and leave the hospital enclosure, the former to return to their quarters on the contact ground, the latter to the city, on condition that they had been inoculated, wore a special suit of clothes during the visit, and bathed before resuming their own clothes. The bodies of persons who had died of plague before removal were coffined ])y a specially engaged undertaker; the joints of tlie coffin were rendered watertight; the bodies were wrapped in a sheet wet with sublimate solution 1-1,000, the lid was screwed down, the coffin was then enveloped in a coarse cloth wet with sublimate solution, and delivered at the Quarantine Depot. It was thence transferred to the Maritime Quarantine Station, and there buried Avithout further precaution in sandy soil, on a steep slope falling to cliffs above the Pacific, and at a part of the grounds far removed from that in common use. VI.—Origin and Mode op Spread. Ail those conditions by which the natural course of the epidemic might have been interfered Avitli or modified having noAV been mentioned, the epidemiology of the outbreak can be studied. Pive or six localities in different parts of the Avorld are known to be endemic seats of plague ; the disease has reappeared in them at short intervals during a long series of years, but it has remained confined to them. Prom one of these endemic seats, situated in tlie southern province of China called Yun Xan, plague was carried during 1893 along a caravan route to the toAA ii of Liao Tchou in the adjoining province of Kwang Si. Prom Liao Tcliou it Avas transported by two routes. By one, AA^iich folloAA^ed the Canton River, it reached the city of Canton, and became epidemic there in Pebruary, 1894 ; by the other it was carried to the seaport of Paklioi, on the gulf of Tonquin. Either from Canton or from Pakhoi it reached Hongkong, where it Avas officially declared to be epidemic in May, 1894. It has been present at Hongkong ever since; in 1895 only forty-five cases were notified, but in 1896 it again became prevalent. During the latter year it reached India, and was officially declared to ])e epidemic at Bombay in September; subsequently it spread very widely thence, but Calcutta escaped until the Spring of 1898, or, probably, some- Avhat earlier. The best opinion is that the disease was carried from Hongkong to Bombay by sea. Trade betAveen Sydney and the ports of Hongkong and Calcutta has been great for many years past. As regards Hongkong tAA^o lines of steam vessels both make monthly voyages thither all the year round; the cargc steamers of some other lines sail between the two ports more or less regularly and frequently according to season ; Avhile there are in addition many irregular or casual vessels Avhich arrive from China after touching at many places, including Hongkong. So that Sydney has been in danger of importing plague at all events ever since May, 1894; and the invasion of Calcutta, AAdth which communication is frequent, greatly added to that risk. In Mauritius plague AA^as first officially reported on Pebruary 27th, 181)9, but cases had been observed as early as the previous December AA^hich subsequently came to be looked upon as plague ; and this island has a steady though small trade Avitli Sydney, which is carried on both by steam and sailing vessels. Kobe, Japan, became infected some time in December, 1899; Honolulu, H.I., on December 12th; and Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, was officially declared to be infected on December 24th, 1899, Avhen the news reached Sydney by cable, Tliase are the infected places with ' ' ' which
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