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1929 44
Khartoum, on board s.s. Tuscania. They joined the ship at Port
Said on March 23rd. The Tuscania left Bombay where severe
Small-pox was prevalent on March 14th, and called at Suez, Port
Said, Marseilles and Gibraltar. On March 17th, a seamen fell ill,
and on March 18th another sailor became ill. These cases were
not diagnosed as Small-pox until the steamer reached Marseilles
on March 27th, where one of the seamen was landed, but died
soon after in hospital. Before the illness had been diagnosed as
Small-pox about 450 passengers had disembarked and had left
Marseilles.
On receipt of the information that the illness was Small-pox
the ship's surgeon vaccinated a large number of the passengers and
crew on board the ship. When the ship arrived at Liverpool, the
other sick seamen was diagnosed as suffering from Small-pox and
the usual procedure adopted.
Altogether 53 cases of Small-pox were reported from different
places—47 primary (i.e. contracted on the ship) and 6 secondary.
Ten primary cases and two secondary cases proved fatal.
The Tuscania arrived in Liverpool on April 1st and four
of the passengers (husband, wife and two children) came to Acton.
We called at Ihe address which had been given in Liverpool, but
were unable to see any of the passengers. On April 9th, I was
asked by a doctor to see a women at the address named. When
we arrived there, the woman was dead. The woman was pregnant
and aborted on April 8th, and on April 9th she died of
Haemorrhagic Small-pox. There was a purpuric rash on the body
which was the prodromal rash of Hæmorthagic Small-pox. The
focal rash of Small-pox was only beginning to appear.
In a room upstairs was the husband who had been ill since
April 6th or 7th. The characteristic rash of Small-pox was
appearing on the face and body. He was at once removed to the
Metropolitan Asylums Board's Small-pox hospital where he died on
April 16th of Confluent Small-pox.
The two children appeared free of symptoms and were
vaccinated.
All the contacts were vaccinated or revaccinated, and no
further cases occurred. Owing to the severity of the disease there
was no objection on the part of the contacts to vaccination.
Some confusion has arisen in the minds of some people regarding
the Small-pox which occurred on the Tuscania and the
Small-pox which is now prevalent in London.
The Small-pox which occurred amongst the passengers and
crew of the Tuscania was what is called the Eastern or Asiatic
type of the disease, and this still remains extremely virrulent in
its character But its very virulence is a help to prevent its
spread.