?129
The following table  shows   the   admissions   from   the various
diseases, by months, from July to March :-
Names of Months.    
Plague.
Relapsing Fever.
Cholera.
Small-Pox.
Chicken-Pox.
Measles.    
Mumps.
Whooping Cough.
Observation.
Total of each Month.
1897.










July            
13
15
111
10




73
222
August 
11
24
73
4




74
186
September   
33
54
26

1



128
242
October 
31
57
8
4

1


140
241
November   
52
82
3
2

1


146
286
December  
167
190
2
1
4
10
2
4
166
546
1898.










January
496
188
1
2
6
5


112
810
February   
660
218

2
13
4


61
958
March                 
454
101
1
14
28
3


29
630
Total
1,917
929
225
39
52
24      
2
    4
929
4,121
Plague  and Relapsing  Fever.
It will be seen from the above table that although Plague had
considerably lessened in Bombay, it had not become quite extinct, and
that during the months of July, August, September and October three
epidemic diseases-Plague, relapsing fever and cholera-were running
concurrently.    Cholera,  however, almost vanished in  early  October,
but  Plague   and   relapsing   fever   went  on  gathering strength and
virulence  as  they  advanced.     It   is  indeed strange that two  such
dissimilar diseases, Plague and relapsing fever, should run together,
attain their maximum,  and  decline also just about the same  time,
though not in  equal proportion.    For whereas relapsing fever   has
all but disappeared by the middle  of April,  Plague  still continues
to  claim its victims  weekly   by   hundreds.    Both   diseases   present
this  peculiarity  that they  are   infectious; but   it   is   an   undoubted
fact  that relapsing fever is  highly infections  and certainly more so
than  Plague.     But here the similarity  ends.    As against  a normal
Plague mortality of about  74 per cent., the mortality from relapsing
fever  is  18·51  per cent.    Another  curious feature that was observed
during   the   second   Plague   epidemic   was   the  blending or mixing
of the   poison of relapsing fever   and Plague  in the same patients,
sometimes  the  one  intensifying the other,  at others moderating its
severity.    And  what was  still more  striking in this  dual infection
was  the  fact that it existed mostly in the weak and  the under-fed,
the same  class of patients that have shown themselves to be the most
susceptible to both infections.    When Plague has prevailed extensively
amongst the better classes inhabiting this city, the curious feature of the
mixture of Plague and relapsing fever was observed only amongst
the lower.