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SCHEDULE 4
ADDITIONAL MEASURES WITH RESPECT TO THE QUARANTINABLE DISEASES
PART I - PLAGUE
A. Infected ships and suspected ships
(1) The Medical Officer may —
(a) require any suspect On board to be disinsected and place him under surveillance, the
period of surveillance being reckoned from the date of arrival of the ship;
(b) require the disinsecting and, if necessary, disinfection of the baggage of any infected
person or suspect, and of any other article on board and any part of the ship which the
medical officer considers to be contaminated.
(2) If there is rodent plague on board, the medical officer shall require the ship to be deratted
in a manner to be determined by him, but without prejudice to the generality of this requirement
the following special provisions shall apply to any such deratting:-
(a) the deratting shall be carried out as soon as the holds have been emptied;
(b) one or more preliminary derattings of a ship with the cargo in situ, or during its unloading,
may be carried out to prevent the escape of infected rodents;
(c) if the complete destruction of rodents cannot be secured because,only part of the cargo
is due to be unloaded, a ship shall not be prevented from unloading that part, but the
medical officer may apply any measure which he considers necessary to prevent the escape
of infected rodents.
B. Ships which have been in infected areas
(3) The Medical Officer may —
(a) place under surveillance any suspect who disembarks, the period of surveillance being
reckoned from the date of the departure of the ship from the infected area;
(b) require the destruction of rodents on the ship if he considers the circumstances so
exceptional as to justify such a requirement, but he shall give the master notice in
writing of the reasons for the requirement.
Plague being primarily a disease of rats all vessels are inspected immediately on arrival
at their berths in the docks and river for the presence of any mortality among the rats on board
which is not attributable to any known cause, such as trapping, poisoning, etc.
Incidentally one of the "Health Questions" on page 1 of the "Maritime Declaration of
Health" requires the Master to answer "Yes" or "No" to the question "Has plague occurred or
been suspected amongst the rats or mice on board during the voyage, or has there been an
abnormal mortality among them?"
Any dead rats are immediately sent to the Central Public Health Laboratory at County Hall for
examination for pasteurella pestis, each being accompanied by a label on which is given precise
information as to where the rat was found in order to pinpoint the focus of infection should the
examination prove positive.
In the event of a positive result the "additional measures" referred to above would be put
into operation - the discharge of the cargo would be promptly stopped and arrangements made for
the vessel to be fumigated throughout with hydrogen cyanide, with the cargo in situ, the vessel
being moved to an approved mooring.
Following the initial fumigation and collection of dead rats resulting therefrom, further
samples of such rats would be submitted for examination and the discharge of cargo would be permitted
under observation. The destination of the cargo would be forwarded to the Medical Officer
of Health of the district to which it was proceeding, together with an explanatory note.
If any of the cargo had already been discharged overside into lighters before the discovery of
plague infection, the lighters would be fumigated immediately.
On completion of the discharge of cargo from the vessel a second fumigation would be carried
out, again using hydrogen cyanide, to destroy the residual rat population, if any.
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