View report page

22
TYPHUS FEVER.
On the arrival of a vessel from Buenos Ayres on 28th October, it was reported
that a fireman, taken ill on the 5th of the month, had died on the 14th of Typhus
Fever. A sailor had been landed at Monte Video on the outward voyage suffering from
supposed Influenza, since stated to have been Typhus Fever.
The patient was isolated, and the crew's quarters were fumigated by burning
sulphur. No further cases arose.
The crew's quarters were again fumigated on arrival, this being a matter of
routine on the ships of the company to which this vessel belonged. The measures
taken by the ship's surgeon are of primary importance in preventing the spread of
Typhus Fever. In this disease the louse plays as important a part as does the flea in the
dissemination of Plague,
A simple and effective remedy on steamships against vermin and their eggs in
textile articles is steaming in a covered tub or similar receptacle. This, in conjunction
with sulphur fumigation, has been resorted to against fleas by the ship's surgeon on a
plague infected ship arriving in the Port.
The all-round utility of sulphur fumigation for disinfection, and for suppression
of vermin of all descriptions on shipboard, where effective closure of infected or
suspected quarters can nearly always be secured, is deserving of more extensive
recognition, and should rank as a domestic measure to be applied at once where and
when necessity arises. Absolute efficiency against vermin depends on the thoroughness
of application. It is effective against adults and young of bugs, fleas and lice in
quarters and in clothing and effects ; it is also effective, but less absolutely, against the
eggs of these vermin. Thoroughness of application implies efficient sealing of the
quarters ; a sufficient duration of the fumigation (not less than 12 hours—the longer
the better up to 24 hours) ; a sufficient quantity of sulphur burned (not less than one
pound per 1,000 cubic feet) ; and as full an exposure of the textile articles and other
contents as possible.
Failure in absolute efficiency may then arise from some unkilled eggs and the
natural habit of parasites, especially the louse, in clinging to the infested person. The
louse usually hatches out within a fortnight of the laying of an egg, and lays eggs
within a month. The flea hatches within a fortnight (often a few days), but is not
mature for another month. The bug usually hatches within a fortnight, but is not
mature for about two months. Therefore a second fumigation, undertaken a fortnight
to three weeks after the first, should cleanse a forecastle and its contents, provided that
the infested persons also cleanse themselves and their underclothing, the only remaining
sources of reintroduction after the newly hatched but immature vermin have been
killed.
MALARIA.
Ships were found to be arriving in September and October in the Port with
an undue amount of sickness on board, the origin of which was traced to the
Port of Dakar.
Primarily for diagnostic purposes, five of the most ill of a ship's company of which
nearly all the members were more or less affected, were removed to Denton Hospital.
The illness was found to be Malignant Tertian Malaria. Two deaths occurred amongst
the crew, one of these in Denton Hospital.