Moreover, of these 12 deaths, 5 occurred during the first five days after inoculation—that is to say, during the period in which the protective influence of the vaccine was still incomplete. Then came a period of more than a year, during which the uninoculated had 42 deaths, and the inoculated had one death. The remaining 6 of the 12 deaths occurred more than a year after inoculation, and 5 of these 6 had received only one inoculation of the weak vaccine that was used early in 1894.
Take a good instance that came at the very beginning of the work:—
"A local epidemic took place around two tanks in Kattal Began bustee, ward 19, occupied by about 200 people. In this bustee, about the end of March, 2 fatal cases of cholera and 2 cases of choleraic diarrhœa occurred. The outbreak led to the inoculation of 116 persons in the bustee out of the 200. Since then, 9 cases of cholera, of which 7 were fatal, and 1 case of choleraic diarrhœa have appeared in the bustee, and it is a very extraordinary fact that all these 10 cases of cholera have occurred exclusively among the uninoculated portion of the inhabitants, which, as stated, forms the minority in the bustee; while none of the inoculated have been affected." (Cholera in Calcutta in 1894. W. J. Simpson.)
2. Lucknow (1893)
The story of the outbreak of cholera in the East Lancashire Regiment must be read carefully:—
"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]