"Rumour magnified the events connected with this outbreak, and
distorted the facts connected with the inoculations; and as a
result, the current of public opinion, which had previously been
in favour of inoculation, set in strongly in the opposite
direction. The advocates of anti-choleraic inoculations were
abused in no particularly measured terms, and the inoculations
were held up to be the source of every possible evil and danger
... of the most loathsome diseases, and of every ill which man
is heir to. The distrust engendered by these misrepresentations
and fulminations was, however, only of a temporary nature; and
when the exact circumstances came to be known and understood,
the confidence created by the Calcutta experience began to be
considerably restored. Inoculations were performed in May 1893,
in the East Lancashire, Royal Irish, 16th Lancers, 7th Bengal
Infantry, 7th Bengal Cavalry, and general populations in the
Civil Lines. In 1894, cholera appeared among the native
population of Lucknow, in the form of an epidemic distinguished
by its extreme virulence, patients succumbing in the course of
a few hours. It is stated that the epidemic was of a most
malignant type. In the latter part of July it entered the
cantonments, and attacked the East Lancashire, almost
exclusively confining its ravages to that regiment."
In the East Lancashire, 185 men were inoculated in May 1893. From the
statistical returns obtained from the military authorities at Lucknow,
it appears that at the time of the outbreak, in July 1894, the
strength of the men, including those in hospital, was 773; and of
these, 133 had been inoculated, as recorded in the inoculation
register, and 640 had not been inoculated.
The following table shows the total number of attacks and deaths in
not inoculated and inoculated:--
+---------------------+-------------+------------+
| | Attacks. | Deaths. |
+---------------------+-------------+------------+
| | Per cent. | Per cent. |
| Non-inoculated, 640 | 120 = 18.75 | 79 = 12.34 |
| Inoculated, 133 | 18 = 13.53 | 13 = 9.7 |
+---------------------+-------------+------------+
The men were moved into camp; but this movement seemed only to make
things worse: "the epidemic in the camp appears to have been twice as
severe as in the cantonment."[29]
[29] "The moving into camp, notwithstanding this example, is all
the same an excellent measure of defence, and would with reason be
adopted in every outbreak." (Simpson, _loc. cit._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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