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Action taken on arrival.
The vessel arrived at 10.00 hours on Sunday, 20th February homeward bound from Australia
and was boarded by your Medical Officer of Health and his staff and Dr. Marsden. Vaccine
sufficient to vaccinate 1,000 persons was taken on board with them.
Ports of Call. ,
Brisbane 12.1.55; Sydney 15.1.55; Melbourne 18.1.55; Adelaide 20.1.55; Fremantle 24.1.55;
Colombo 31.1.55; Bombay 3.2.55; Aden 7.2.55; Port Sudan 8.2.55; Suez 10.2.55; Port Said
11.2.55; Marseilles 15.2.55; Gibraltar 17.2.55; London 20.2.55.

History of Case.
The patient, a Goanese scullion, aged 36, was first seen by the Ship's Surgeon on the 16.2.55
with a well marked profuse rash on his face, trunk and limbs. His temperature was 101 °F.
On interrogation, he admitted having been ill for 2-3 days previously and had absented himself
from duty although he had not apparently been missed by his messmates.
The prodromal symptoms did not appear to have been excessively severe. He had been ashore
in Bombay on 3.2.55 and Colombo on 31.1.55. He had two successful vaccination scars on his
right shoulder, the result of vaccination said to have been carried out in 1952.
Condition on Arrival.
The patient exhibited a considerable number of scabbing lesions on his scalp, face, chest,
back, abdomen, upper arms and thighs. The distribution was, therefore, central and the lesions
were, on the whole, superficial and of varying size. His hands were not involved but there were
two lesions, one on each foot, on the solar instep.
The case was seen by your Medical Officer, Drs. Marsden, Willoughby, Jones, Maclean and
Jekyll (Deputy to Dr. Corbett) who were unanimous in their diagnosis of chickenpox.
The patient was removed to the Port Isolation Hospital at Denton together with all bedding
and effects from the ship's isolation hospital, as well as from the peak occupied by the patient
and three associates. The peak and isolation hospital were also put under fumigation.
Conclusion
The arrangements worked smoothly and, in view of the final diagnosis, the ambulance was not
required nor the vaccine, nor the services of Port Health clerical staff who had attended in case
it was necessary to check the addresses of the passengers and crew under the system of surveillance.
s.s. "MANAAR" - SUSPECTED SMALLPOX
Late on the 22nd February, your Medical Officer received at home from the Boarding Medical
Officer on duty at Gravesend a message that Dr. D. Avery, Medical Officer to the Brocklebank
Line, had reported a case of sickness which he feared might be smallpox, in a Goanese seaman
on the s.s. "Manaar" berthed in the Royal Albert Dock. Your Medical Offi cer accordingly
arranged to visit the ship at once and to meet there, at midnight, a smallpox consultant, Dr. W.
T. G. Boul. Mr. T. L. Mackie, your Chief Sanitary Inspector was also in attendance.
The patient, who had been successfully vaccinated in November, 1954, was, on examination,
found to be running a low grade fever and exhibiting a rash consisting of papules with a few
vesicles.
The opinion of the Smallpox Consultant and also that of your Medical Officer was that the
patient was suffering from chickenpox but that in view of the curious nature of the vesicles, the
Medical Officer of the Shipping Company had had reasonable grounds for suspecting the case to
have been one of smallpox.
In order that the patient might be kept under observation, Dr. Boul kindly agreed to admit the
man to Gooseberry Green Hospital, Billericay, a hospital under the care of Dr. Boul himself.
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