BMJ 1994;309:893-894 (8 October)

Editorials

Plague in India

After decades with no confirmed human plague in India, health authorities there are simultaneously responding to outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic plague in rural and urban populations of the south central and southwestern states of Maharashtra and Gujurat. A major concern is the spread of disease by travellers from these epidemic foci.1 Worldwide, public health authorities have been trying to prevent the introduction of pneumonic plague within their borders, requiring national disease surveillance and quarantine offices to operate on emergency schedules dealing with a situation with which almost none has any first hand experience.2

Public fascination, confusion, and incredulity have been fuelled by press reports. A mass exodus including hospital patients and even staff themselves has occurred from the epicentre of the outbreak of pneumonic plague despite regular pronouncements by the medical community that plague is readily treated with antibiotics. Assurances of the effectiveness of public health measures have seemed . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Plague in India
S C Arya
BMJ 1994 309: 1369. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • De Cock, K. M, Lucas, S. B, Mabey, D., Parry, E. (1995). Fortnightly Review: Tropical medicine for the 21st century. BMJ 311: 860-862 [Full text]  
  • Cook, G.C. (1994). Plague in India: is a future 'crisis' preventable?. The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health 114: 314-316  
  • Arya, S C (1994). Plague in India. BMJ 309: 1369-1369 [Full text]  
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