We have seen that the Hamburg water, to start with, was comparatively
pure when compared with the foul liquid abstracted from the Elbe by
Altona, but whereas in the one case the water was submitted to
exhaustive and careful filtration through sand before delivery, in
Hamburg the Elbe water was distributed in its raw condition as drawn
from the river.
But further testimony was afforded later to the truth of these
results, for during the winter, whilst the cases of cholera had almost
completely died out in Hamburg, suddenly a most unexpected and
unaccountable recrudescence of the epidemic occurred, and this time in
Altona. This outbreak could not be traced to any direct infection from
Hamburg, but must have arisen in Altona itself. In all about
forty-seven cases were recorded between December 23rd, 1892, and
February 12th, 1893. A searching inquiry was instituted, and it was
ascertained that the number of bacteria found in the filtered water,
usually about fifty, had during these months risen to as many as 1,000
and more in about twenty drops of water, clearly indicating that the
filtration of the water was not being efficiently carried out. That
this was actually the case was proved by the fact that one of the
sand-filters which had been cleaned during the frost had become frozen
over, and was not able to retain the bacteria. That the outbreak did
not become more serious Koch ascribes to the fact that this, to all
intents and purposes raw untreated water, was largely diluted with
efficiently filtered water before delivery. Dr. Koch, who personally
superintended this inquiry in Altona, traced another local outbreak of
cholera in the city to the use of a well-water obviously open to
pollution, which was used by about 270 persons. In one of the houses
employing this water, and in the immediate vicinity of the well, a boy
died of cholera on January 23rd, and during the week following a
number of cases occurred amongst persons using this source. On
discovering the cholera bacilli in this polluted water, its
contamination was placed beyond doubt, and five days after the well
was closed all cases ceased in the locality.
There cannot be any longer a doubt as to the value of sand-filtration
as a means of water-purification, but the responsibility which we have
seen attaches to this treatment of water cannot be exaggerated, for
whilst when efficiently pursued it forms a most important barrier to
the dissemination of disease germs, the slightest imperfection in its
manipulation is a constant menace during any epidemic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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