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The addresses of the passengers and white crew were carefully checked and
forwarded to the Medical Officers of Health of the districts of destination. It is noteworthy
that of the addresses on the cards which had been issued to the passengers,
45 per cent. were different from those on the passenger manifest. This demonstrates
very clearly how useless it is to accept the addresses on the passenger manifest for
purposes of surveillance, and how important it is to interrogate each person as to his
immediate destination on disembarkation.
The ship was kept under daily observation while in the Port of London. On
6th May she sailed for Dundee, and the Medical Officer of Health of that Port was
informed of the circumstances. The ship subsequently proceeded to Dunkirk and
Avonmouth. The Medical Officer of Health of the Port of Bristol informed me that
a case of Chickenpox was landed from the ss. " City of London " at Dundee on 8th May,
and another at Dunkirk on 13th May.
ss. "City of Adelaide."—On April 30th the Ministry of Health forwarded a
copy of a cablegram from Aden to the effect that the ss. " City of Adelaide " had
landed a suspected case of Small-pox (diagnosis subsequently confirmed) at Colachel
Travancore on 13th April.
This vessel arrived in the Port of London at 11.30 p.m. on the 9th May, when it
was ascertained that the patient, a native fireman aged 28, joined the ship at Rangoon
on the 30th March with the rest of the native crew, who had all been vaccinated on
the 28th March. He reported sick on the 13th April with a rash having worked right
up to the appearance of the eruption. In the absence of a surgeon it was not possible
to get any useful description of the eruption, but on inspection of the crew the Boarding
Medical Officer, Dr. Jones, detected another native who showed evidence of a recent
attack of Chickenpox. A few crusts still remained, so he was removed to the Port
Isolation Hospital. This man showed two large scars on the left upper arm of
vaccination in infancy, one more recent scar on the left upper arm, and a faint mark
of the scarification when he was vaccinated at Rangoon on the 28th March, 1936,
before joining the ship.
Even if the first case was one of Small-pox, which seems unlikely, the incubation
period had long expired.
There were no passengers, and the crew remained on board while the ship was in
London. A watch was kept for further cases of Chickenpox, and on 13th May another
lascar developed the disease, and was promptly removed to the Port Isolation Hospital.
ss. "Manipur."—In the" Weekly Record of Infectious Diseases at Ports, &c.,
at Home and Abroad" for the week ending 1st May, 1936, the following appeared:—
"On 23rd April one case of Small-pox among the crew was disembarked at
Port Sudan from the ship "Manipui" coming from Calcutta and bound
for Suez."
The ss. "Manipur" arrived off Gravesend on l0th May, and was boarded by
Dr. H. Willoughby.
The vessel left Calcutta on the 8th April, 1936, and called at Colombo 14th April;
Port Sudan; 23rd to 25th April; Suez 28th April, Port Said 29th April.
The Master reported that the case was a lascar who re-signed on at Calcutta
on 8th April. He had been vaccinated on 2nd April, 1936. On 22nd April he reported
sick, with an eruption on the face and body, and a temperature of 102° P. He had
no prodromal symptoms. He was isolated forthwith, and the next day, 23rd April,
the ship reached Port Sudan, where the Port Medical Officer diagnosed Small-pox
and removed the case ashore with all his bedding and effects. All the crew, native
and European, were revaccinated on 24th April. The lascars' forecastle and the
cabin in which the patient had been isolated were disinfected.
On arrival in the Port of London everybody on board was carefully inspected,
and there was no evidence of any secondary or "missed" cases. As 17 days had
elapsed since the case was removed from the ship, it was not deemed necessary to
arrange for the surveillance of the three passengers, though their names and addresses
were recorded. The crew were not paying off here, and were kept under observation
until the vessel sailed for Dundee at noon on 13th May.