Origin of kála-ázar, etc.

173

"Bardwan fever" epidemic is certainly an exactly parallel
occurrence to the kála-ázar outbreak, a very brief account of it
will be first given, then the Dinajpore and Rungpore outbreak
of fever will be described, and its connection with the Assam
epidemic fever will be demonstrated, and lastly, the resem-
blances of this to the "Bardwan fever" will be illustrated.

     The following extract from the Bengal Census Report of
1881 is the most concise account of the "Bardwan fever"
that I know of:

     "This fever, as has been said above, invaded the Bardwan division
from the east. It appears to have originated in the eastern part
of the Presidency division some 30 years ago. Fever was very
fatal in the Jessore district in the years 1847-48, and after a temporary
cessation it broke out again in 1854-56. About this time it began to
spread westwards to Nuddea and the 24-Parganas, and finally
culminated in the severe epidemic which devastated these districts
from 1857 to 1864. No notice of this fever seems to have been
taken by the authorities till the end of 1861, although it prevailed
in a most virulent form in Nuddea from the end of 1856. Towards
the end of 1861, however, its ravages in the Baraset division and
the northern portion of the 24-Parganas attracted the attention of
Government, and efforts were made to combat it. A few months
later, measures of a similar kind were introduced into the Nuddea
district, and in all the three districts then included in the Presidency
division, relief operations were continued until the fever died out
about 1864. Briefly stated, this fever was most severe in the rainy
season and the winter months of the years 1860 to 1862-63. In the
winter of 1863-64 there was a perceptible improvement and a radical
change for the better in that of 1864-65. But while the epidemic
was wearing itself out in the districts of the Presidency division,
where it was first observed, it had spread slowly westward into those
of the Bardwan division. The Bardwan district is separated from
that of Nuddea by the Bhagiratil river, and the thanas of Burdwan
which abut on the river, are three, viz ., Cutwa the north, Purbasthali
in the centre, and Culna to the south. It was in the two riverside
villages of the Culna thana that the first cases of the epidemic
occurred in the year 1862. In 1863 the fever re-appeared in the
Purbasthali and Culna thanas, and, attacking first the villages on
the river bank, advanced slowly inland, spreading also southward