Report of the Board of Health on a second outbreak of plague at Sydney, 1902 / by J. Ashburton Thompson.

  • Thompson, J. Ashburton (John Ashburton), 1848-1915.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Board of Health on a second outbreak of plague at Sydney, 1902 / by J. Ashburton Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    it, while two were employed at the theatre which was the adjudged place of their infection, two others merely attended a performance at it. The following table displays the more important facts :— Table XXIII.—Showing the dates on which persons who constitute Four Groups, distinguished solely by resort to the same business premises, were attacked, together with some other particulars. Group. K M 1 N Case number and date of attack. Adjudged place of infection. Nature of associa¬ tion at and with adjudged place of infection. Place of Residence. (21) Feb. 12 (18) „ (19) „ (20) „ (34) „ (43) „ II 14 15 24 27 (64) Mar. 14 (65) „ 15 (66) „ 16 (71) „ 16 (70) „ 17 (99) Apr. 17 (123) May C Her Majesty’s The¬ atre and Hotel, 186-8, Pitt-street. J ’ Siddaway’s Boot Factory, 47, Mar¬ ket-street. Andrew’s Printing- house, 13, Bridge- street. Buckle’s Wharf .. Attended per formance. Employed ... Attended per¬ formance. Employed ... Employed ... >> J) >> Frequented Buckle’s Wharf. Nelson-st., Leichhardt 130 Reservoir-st, Surry Hills 22 Bullanaming-st., Redfern.. 247 Church-st., Camperdown... 59 High Holborn-st. Bondi ... 38 Campbell-st, Balmain 14 Phelfs-st., Surry Hills 26 George-st., Erskineville Bexley Kogarah 6 Ultimo-st., Ultimo.. 289 Riley-st. ... Area in which residence situated— whether infected or not. Not. » Not till a month after attack. Not. a 5J )) Yes. Not. 210. Group K (Central area).—Her Majesty’s theatre and hotel. The premises were very largo, and had frontage to Pitt and to Market Streets. 4 he theatre and the hotel were in communication for man only by a bar which was open to the latter on one side, to the dress circle on the other. This was not used as a passage. But for rats, these two establishments were practically one. 211. Case 21 occurred in a woman who was attacked 12th February, and who lived in a suburb 3 or 4 miles away, at a btick and weatherboard cottage, which was in fair repair, very clean, and free from all traces of infestation with rats. The patient said she had not been away from the neighbourhood of her dwelling for a long time prior to her attack, except 10th February, when she attended an evening performance at the theatre with her husband ; they then sat in that part known as the family circle. No “ indigenous” case occurred at any time within a mile of her residence. 212. Case 18 occurred in a boy who was regulatly employed at the theatre, and who was attacked 14th February. His chief duty was to clean bottles and to keep in order a store-room at the back of the gallery next above the family circle, and in the evening to attend at a refreshment bar at the back of the family circle ; he also sometimes helped to clean the auditorium. He went to this work at 7‘30 a.m., continued till 4 p.m., went home and returned for the evening performance at 8 p.m., lastly getting home to bed at about 12 30 a.m. He lived in a brick terrace house, clean, in fair repair, and found to present no signs of infestation w’ith rats. 213. Case 19 occurred in a man who was attacked 14th February. He was unemployed at the time, and from his account of his movements, which seemed to be straightforward and consistent, it appeared that he occasionally (though on what dates in relation to his illness, if any, was not made out) took food at 178, Pitt-street; that is to say, next door to No. 180, where a plague-rat was taken on 14th February. He lived in a brick house which was found to be dirty, damp, and in bad repair, but quite free from all traces of infestation w7ith rats. No indigenous case occurred anywhere in the neighbourhood of his dwelling. On 11th February he w7ent to the theatre, and then sat in the family circle. 214. Case 20.—This patient, wdio wras attacked 15th February, was employed at the theatre as a scene shifter; he worked in the flies, and these wrere accessible both from the family circle and from the gallery ; he was last employed on the day of his attack. For a description of his cottage and the state as to plague of the neighbourhood in which it stood, see Camperdown area (par. 13G). 215. The theatre was separated from shops to the north of it on the Pitt-street frontage by a blind lane; the hotel kitchen was in the basement, and had a passage which led to this lane, by which wastes ■were taken out and deposited in boxes to be emptied by the scavengers ; but similar access to the lane could be had from one or more premises to its north. From this lane putrid carcases had been gathered on 29th,30th,and 31st January,and on 1st,8th,and Ilth February; and although almost unfit for bacteriological examination some of them were submitted to it. The general result was, that while morphological tests yielded doubtful, but occasionally apparently positive results, all cultures quickly became overgrowm, and