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PLAGUE IN CALCUTTA
Author(s) -
I. M. S. Greval
Publication year - 1948
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1948.tb28067.x
Subject(s) - plague (disease) , citation , computer science , library science , history , archaeology
In picking up the thread of plague in Calcutta in March, April and May 1948, in this delayed issue of the journal for March 1948, we take the readers back 54 years. We can afford to do so leisurely and with digressions, as the epidemic has come and gone. Between 6th March and 25th May, both dates inclusive, there were not more than 147 cases with 30 deaths. The mortality was high in the first 14 cases. Later it was low. In this 71 days long warp of public health activity in Calcutta there has crossed a woof of public sentiment, indicative of novelty, incredibility, excitement, panic, prophylaxis and assurance. Strands of panic were very few and far between. The sulpha drugs and streptomycin have deprived the fell dragon of plague of its teeth and claws. Our appraisal a few months ago (this journal, November 1947) of the antibiotic proved correct. The assurance preceded its actual arrival in the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Calcutta. Hong Kong, Bombay and Calcutta 54 years ago.?In 1894 an editorial, entitled