Sessional_Paper_1903 — Page 464

No. 1903

30

HONGKONG.

BUBONIC PLAGUE IN HONGKONG.

MEMORANDUM BY H. E. THE GOVERNOR ON THE RESULT OF THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS IN THEIR OWN HOUSES AND IN LOCAL HOSPITALS, DURING THE EPIDEMIC OF 1903.

Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor.

The following is the result of an experiment undertaken by me to ascertain how far it might be possible to enlist the co-operation of the Chinese inhabitants in the endeavour to deal with annually recurring epidemics of plague.

2. To understand the reasons that impelled me to undertake this work, it is necessary to remember that for ten years Hongkong has been scourged by this disease; that no efforts of sanitation have so far decreased its incidence or diminished its virulence; and that the proportion of cases found "dumped" in the streets or on the hillsides increased from 25.1 % in 1898 to 32.7% in the present year.

3. The increase in the practice of thus depositing dead bodies I attribute to the dread of the disinfecting process as carried out by the Sanitary Authorities. The process is explained as follows in the memorandum drawn up in June, 1900, by the Medical Officer of Health :-

"Disinfection of infected premises.-This is carried out by a European officer assisted by eight coloured foremen, a Chinese foreman, and a varying number of coolies. As soon as it is known that a case of the disease has occurred at any house, a Chinese constable is sent. from the nearest Police Station to detain all persons found therein (Bye-law 22, Ordinance 15 of 1894), and the officer in charge of the disinfection proceeds to the house to ascertain how many persons are detained there. He then procures, either from the matshed at Praya East or from the Disinfecting Station, as many suits of Govern- ment clothing as are needed for the persons so detained, and having thus provided these persons with clothing he removes their own clothing, bedding, curtains, and carpets, to the Steam Disinfecting Station, the clothing being tied up in sheets dipped in a solution of Jeyes' fluid and conveyed through the streets in baskets; persons who are able to obtain new. or clean clothing from some uninfected premises are however not detained after they have discarded their infected clothing and handed it to the Inspector for disinfection, New goods, silk clothing which has not been recently worn, furs and leather goods are not removed to the Steam Disinfector, but must as a general rule remain on the premises until they have been fumigated. When the clothing, etc. is returned (in the course of some two hours) from the Disinfecting Station, the persons who have been detained are required to put on their own clothing and must then leave the premises for some 5 or 6 hours while it is disinfected and cleansed. The Government clothing is returned to the Disinfecting Station to be steamed before it is again used. The people so displaced from their homes are at liberty to make use of the Board's matshed shelters until the processes of disinfection of the premises are complete. The disinfection of the premises consists in the spraying of the walls with a solution of perchloride of mercury (1 in 1,000) or fumigation with free chlorine obtained by the addition of diluted sulphuric acid to chlorinated lime (1 quart of a 1 in 8 solution of the acid to each b of the chlorinated lime). Floors and furniture are then scrubbed with solution of Jeyes' fluid and the walls are then lime-washed. chlorinated lime being added to the lime-wash in the proportion of

b. to the gallon.'

11

It will be observed that on receipt of information of the death of a person a Policeman is at once placed in charge of the house, and all the inmates found therein are detained until their clothes are disinfected. This detention may be for 24 hours; but in many cases it may be for 48 hours, as if the body is removed to the