Abstract
IN accordance with our views on the origin of epidemics it is necessary to believe that the plague which appeared in Bombay in the autumn of 1896 was derived from some previously infected locality. Two such localities have been suggested. The most obvious suggestion is to the effect that it was derived from Hong Kong, which town had been the seat of a serious epidemic in 1894, and which in 1896 remained still infected. An alternative suggestion was put forward in the report of the German Plague Commission to the effect that it was derived from Garhwal. The suggestion was to some extent substantiated by the fact mentioned in the report in question that two thousand fakirs from Garhwal had arrived in Bombay on their way to a pilgrimage at Nassik shortly before the appearance of the disease. Plague is endemic in Garhwal (a district in the Himalaya Mountains), and this locality is therefore a possible source of infection. By conversation with a fakir who had attended the Nassik festival, Mr. Hankin learnt that the Garhwal fakirs only visit western India on occasions when the Nassik festival is being held. This festival is held regularly at twelve-yearly intervals.
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The Spread of Plague . Nature 70, 616–617 (1904). https://doi.org/10.1038/070616b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/070616b0