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16
The s.s. "Caledonia," of Greenock, 102,390, arrived at Gravesend on the
13th March from Bombay, On the 25th February one of the crew, a Goanese scullion,
was taken ill, and developed a bubo in the left inguinal region. He was landed at
Suez, where the diagnosis of plague was confirmed bacteriologically. Disinfection
was carried out. No dead rats were found on board. On arrival at Gravesend all
were found to be well, and the ship was kept under observation while in the Port.
The vessel left Bombay on the 21st February, 1914, so that only four days elapsed
from the departure of the vessel and onset of the illness. It was therefore probable
that the man was infected in Bombay before leaving, and it was not necessary to
fumigate the vessel in order to destroy the rats on board.
The Local Government Board was duly notified of this case.
The s.s. "Persia," of Greenock, 109,258, arrived in Tilbury Dock on the
5th June from Bombay, There had been no suspicious cases of illness during the
voyage, but on discharging the cargo from No. 4 hold, on the 6 th, nine dead rats were
found. A post-mortem and microscopical examination was made by Dr. Willoughby,
and in his opinion the appearances were suspicious of plague. The hold was therefore
shut down, and fumigated before the cargo was discharged. I allowed the cargo to be
discharged from the other holds, and had a careful watch kept for any dead rats in
these holds. As soon as the rest of the cargo was discharged, the ship was fumigated
by sulphur di-oxide gas. Bacteriological examination of rats found subsequently was
carried out, but the results were "negative" as regards plague. The crew were kept
under daily observation, and on the 18th June a native was taken ill with pneumonia.
He was removed to Denton Hospital on the 19th for observation, but no suspicious
symptoms presented themselves. The patient was discharged from hospital on the
23rd June.
On the 14th November I received information from the Medical Officer of Health
for Bristol that a case suspicious of plague had been landed there from the
s.s. "Kilchattan" on the 12th November, and that the vessel would proceed to
London. All necessary disinfection was carried out, and rat precautions complied with.
A specimen of material from bubo was sent to the Local Government Board, and I
received a report stating that the result was " negative " as regards plague.
The s.s. "Malakand," of Liverpool, 120,907, arrived at Gravesend on the
3rd December from Calcutta, having landed a case suspicious of plague at Suez on the
17th November. The ship is stated to have been disinfected at Suez, and no other
suspicious cases occurred. All were well on arrival at Gravesend.
The vessel left Calcutta on the 28th October, 1914, and the man ailed on
November 17th. There were no dead rats discovered during the voyage, and the man
was simply attacked with fever, without any bubo. There was no evidence that the
man was suffering from Plague, and the vessel was therefore not fumigated.