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13
One of the principal duties of a Port Sanitary Authority is [the prevention of the
introduction of certain exotic diseases, which are regulated by International Convention.
These are Cholera, Yellow Fever, and Plague, and during the latter part of the
year an International Sanitary Conference, which was attended by delegates from various
parts of the world, assembled in Paris, with a view to revising the national arrangements
agreed to at the Paris Conference in 1903 for the control of the above mentioned
diseases.
CHOLERA.
This disease is endemic in Calcutta, and has been prevalent in Europe, especially in
certain ports on the Mediterranean Sea. During the year 1910 it was very prevalent in
the Russian Baltic Ports, especially in St. Petersburg, but in 1911 very few cases have
occurred there.
Italy has been specially affected, and from there it has spread to certain ports in
Spain, France, and Northern Africa, and it is said that no less than 25 cases of Cholera
were conveyed to the United States of America by vessels carrying immigrants from
Italian ports.
It has been stated that persons apparently in good health may contain the specific
organisms of Cholera within their bodies, and though they present no symptoms of
Cholera, yet are liable to infect drinking water, food, &c., and so communicate the
disease to other persons after landing. This is an unpleasant prospect, as the ordinary
process of medical inspection can only distinguish those persons who are apparently in
good health and free from symptoms of Asiatic Cholera.
The only way of detecting these so-called "carriers" is by bacteriological examination
of each person arriving from an infected port. It is not necessary to point out that
this would entail a vast amount of hard and unpleasant work, and would impose severe
restrictions upon incoming passengers. The conveyance of Enteric Fever by human
" carriers " has been well established, but further investigations are necessary before
deciding whether Asiatic Cholera is spread in this way, and whether it will be necessary
to examine in minute detail, and bacteriologically, all persons arriving from Cholera
infected ports. Special regulations will require to be issued by the Local Government
Board before this procedure can be adopted.