Plague In India Research Articles

India's epidemics in theRiḥlaof Ibn Baṭṭūṭa: plague, cholera or lexical muddle?

AbstractThe famous Moroccan traveller Muḥammad b. Baṭṭūṭa, who left Tangier in 1325, claims to have made a journey that took him across most of the then Islamicate world. The country in which he recounts having stayed the longest was India, where he says he remained from 1333 to 1341/1342, mostly in the Islamic Sultanate of Delhi. A long section of hisRiḥlais dedicated to the sub-continent and modern historians of this region ascribe to it an important documentary value, although it has been argued that Ibn Baṭṭūṭa may have borrowed – not to imply copied – information from other sources in other parts of the work. As concerns India, Ibn Baṭṭūṭa speaks of two epidemics and one deadly disease that occurred in 1334–5 and 1344. Some scholars have referred to them as cholera, while others have suggested it was the plague – thus supporting the hypothesis that the medieval plague pandemic had struck India before reaching the Middle East. How did this confusion arise? What exactly does Ibn Baṭṭūṭa'sRiḥlarelate? Do Indo-Persian sources confirm these epidemics? Do they and/or Ibn Baṭṭūṭa'sRiḥlaallow us to discount the presence of the Medieval Plague in India, or rather do they assert it?In order to answer these questions, this paper analyses the information on the Indian epidemics in Ibn Baṭṭūṭa'sRiḥlaand compares the text with its translations in the principal European languages and with Indo-Persian chronicles. These analyses reveal something of a lexical muddle which, in my opinion, has contributed to some errors and misunderstandings regarding the diseases in question. But another question arises: is it possible to read the information provided by Ibn Baṭṭūṭa and the Indian chronicles in a consilient way, that is, taking into account not only the analysis of written documents, but also the recent and current findings in genetics of plague, and in particular on the Black Death? Finally, an attempt is made to answer a question that has to be asked, particularly in light of the criticism often levelled at Ibn Baṭṭūṭa. Considering that in one of these events he claims to have witnessed the epidemic, is there any reason to suppose that he did not? Regarding the other two events that he did not claim to witness firsthand, is there any cause to doubt his claims?

Lung Cancer Detection using Modified Gabor Filter, Gradient Operators And Morphological Segmentation Tool

Lung Cancer is a disease of irregular cells multiplying and growing into a tumour. It’s hard to believe, but lung cancer is the primary cause of cancer deaths among both women and men. Every year more people die of lung cancer than of colon, prostate and Breast cancers. Some important facts of lung cancer are Excluding Skin cancer, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both women and men. Statistics from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommend that lung cancer is fast turning into a plague in India. It is a high mortality cancer due to poor access to affordable health care and diagnosis at late stage. At the time of diagnosis only 15 percent of the cases of lung cancer are curable. Due to the nature of the disease patients with lung cancer present themselves for diagnosis at a much later stage than other cancers. Globally lung cancer accounts for 8.4% percent of all cancers in women and 14.5% in men. For lung cancer Smoking is the single largest contributor. Other causes are exposure to carcinogenic toxins like radon, asbestos, radiation and air pollutants. Exposure to women to smoke from the burning of charcoal for cooking is also a cause of lung cancer. About 20 percent we can reduce the risk of lung cancer by doing physical activities and exercise is known to improve lung function. In recent times, image processing measures are frequently used in a number of medical areas for enlargement of the image in preceding recognition and managing periods, where the instant aspect is really important to determine the abnormality problems in objective figures, mainly in a variety of malignancy tumours such as lung cancer, breast cancer etc.

Lung Cancer Detection using Modified Gabor filter, Gradient operators and Morphological segmentation tool

Lung Cancer is a disease of irregular cells multiplying and growing into a tumour. It’s hard to believe, but lung cancer is the primary cause of cancer deaths among both women and men. Every year more people die of lung cancer than of colon, prostate and Breast cancers. Some important facts of lung cancer are Excluding Skin cancer, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both women and men. Statistics from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommend that lung cancer is fast turning into a plague in India. It is a high mortality cancer due to poor access to affordable health care and diagnosis at late stage. At the time of diagnosis only 15 percent of the cases of lung cancer are curable. Due to the nature of the disease patients with lung cancer present themselves for diagnosis at a much later stage than other cancers. Globally lung cancer accounts for 8.4% percent of all cancers in women and 14.5% in men. For lung cancer Smoking is the single largest contributor. Other causes are exposure to carcinogenic toxins like radon, asbestos, radiation and air pollutants. Exposure to women to smoke from the burning of charcoal for cooking is also a cause of lung cancer. About 20 percent we can reduce the risk of lung cancer by doing physical activities and exercise is known to improve lung function. In recent times, image processing measures are frequently used in a number of medical areas for enlargement of the image in preceding recognition and managing periods, where the instant aspect is really important to determine the abnormality problems in objective figures, mainly in a variety of malignancy tumours such as lung cancer, breast cancer etc.

Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS by Samuel K. Cohn

Reviewed by: Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS by Samuel K. Cohn Peter Baldwin Samuel K. Cohn. Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. xii + 643 pp. Ill. $125.00 (978–0–19–881966–0). If not before, the digital has now arrived in the history of medicine. Not only could a book this big—640 enormous pages, many thousands of footnotes—never have been composed on analog technology, it is based on searches through massive databases of content, including the back runs of over five hundred newspapers. The result is an avalanche of material on epidemic disease (plague, cholera, syphilis, smallpox, yellow fever, influenza, AIDS) from ancient Greece to the present. An overwhelming amount of information is presented on reactions to epidemic disease globally across two millennia. To what avail? Cohn seeks to drive a stake through the heart of a supposedly widespread assumption that epidemic disease invariably provokes antagonism and fear of “others” who are blamed for disease and therefore castigated, harmed, and spurned. While he concedes that pogroms were sparked by the black death in the fourteenth century and himself adds to this historical repertoire by detailing widespread attacks on smallpox victims in early twentieth-century America, he argues that epidemics did not invariably lead to outcasting, and in fact equally often sparked sympathy and compassion, as during yellow fever outbreaks in the nineteenth century, the 1918 influenza epidemic, and eventually with AIDS. It was thus not the lack of scientific information that fueled ostracization, since that continued even deep into the era of scientific medicine. So what explains such varying reactions? While the book presents an onslaught of detail, less effort is made to analyze why the reactions to different epidemics varied. Multiple factors distinguishing the diseases are suggested: speed of onset, rapidity of death, unpleasantness of symptoms, and lethality. But in each case, exceptions are found, and the factor dismissed as not causally significant. Ultimately Cohn does not explain why the ancient world did not attack the diseased, the medieval world did for plague, the nineteenth century did for cholera in some places and times, the twentieth century did for smallpox, but not for yellow fever and influenza, nor AIDS. Unfortunately Cohn distinguishes only vaguely among the various epidemics and their etiology and what effect that might have on reactions to them. Some of the diseases (pneumonic plague, smallpox, syphilis, influenza, AIDS) were directly transmissible, others (rat-borne plague, cholera, yellow fever) involved vectors. Such differences and their implications for how best to combat epidemics were not of course always known at the time, and this in turn influenced reactions. The epidemics that prompted the worst excesses were often those where the authorities intervened strenuously (plague, cholera, smallpox) while for others they were [End Page 114] more hands-off: quarantines against yellow fever were authorized and accepted, measures against the flu impinged only tangentially on everyday life (shutting down cinemas, obligatory face masks, etc.). Nor does Cohn account with any precision for distinctions among the groups that were attacked. At least three sets of people were involved. Victims of disease were persecuted. This may have been an unpleasant reaction, but at a time when many diseases were thought to be directly transmissible and avoidance the best prevention, it was hardly an irrational reaction. People other than direct victims who were blamed for epidemics were also attacked—Jews during the fourteenth-century plague, alleged plague spreaders during later epidemics, prostitutes for syphilis, Cossacks and Persians for cholera in Russia, Europeans for the plague in India, Haitians and gays for AIDS. Hatreds were thus targeted at out-groups, the epidemic providing an excuse to vent prejudices. And finally, violence erupted against authorities carrying out preventive measures. Their prophylactic techniques may appear misguided in retrospect (cholera fumigations and quarantines) or may have been entirely justified (smallpox vaccination). But such attacks were clearly distinct from the other two. Unfortunately Cohn lumps them all together. Thus violence against physicians removing cholera victims to quarantine or against smallpox vaccinators are treated as similar to pogroms against Jews. In terms of his overall Fragestellung, however, this is misleading...

Plague in India: A Review

Plague in India: A Review

Relevance of Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Plague in the Field Settings: a Review

Plague has resurfaced in India. Delay in its diagnosis led to spread of disease in 2002 Himachal Pradesh outbreak. There is a need to improve its rapid diagnosis in field situations. There are an array of diagnostic tests for the detection of plague but none of them has been found to be suitable in the field settings. This review article is an attempt to compare various diagnostic tests for detection of plague in field settings, and to explore the potential of introducing a Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) for plague in India. A thorough search was made through internet, Institute library and snow-balling technique for articles/studies related to plague diagnosis. The information was collated and catalogued. The literature review revealed a battery of tests for diagnosis of plague like bacteriological culturing, PHA, ELISA, PCR and RDT. Although bacteriology (culture) is considered as the “gold standard” for confirmation of Y. pestis, quick diagnosis of the disease is affected because the technique is not available in the field primarily because of high cost, sophistication and set-up required. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method is said to be very specific but not as sensitive as culture or the F1 Ag detection method. Further, it may also not be possible to do PCR in field settings. Cost-effective, easy to use, and reliable, the RDT can be considered as a good tool in early diagnosis of plague. It has proven to be rapid and easy to use at the bedside with 83–93% specificity and sensitivity. Therefore, RDT is a valid and reliable test in field settings, however, it needs testing in different conditions before being used in field settings across India.

Commentary: The evolution of methods to assess the effects of treatments, illustrated by the development of treatments for diphtheria, 1825-1918

References 1 Choksy NH. Letter to the Editor: Professor Lustig’s plague serum. Lancet 1900;156:291–92; Reprinted Int J Epidemiol 2013;42:654–56. 2 Nathan R. The Plague in India, 1896, 1897. Simla: The Government Central Printing Office, 1898. 3 Condon JK. The Bombay Plague, being A History of the Progress of Plague in the Bombay Presidency from September 1896 to June 1899. Bombay: The Education Society’s Steam Press, 1900. 4 Lustig A, Galeotti G. The Prophylactic and Curative Treatment of Plague. Brit Med J 1901;1:206–08. 5 Choksy NH. The Treatment of Plague with Professor Lustig’s Serum. Bombay: Indian Textile and Municipal Journal Company, 1903. 6 The Indian Plague Commission: 1898–99: Bombay: Minutes of Evidence taken before the Indian Plague Commission at the Secretariat. 7 Haffkine WM. Concerning Inoculation Against Plague and Pneumonia and the Experimental Study of Curative Methods. J Hyg (Lond) 1915;15:64–101. 8 Bannerman WB, Haffkine WM. Serum-therapy of Plague in India; (Scientific Memoirs by Officers of the Medical and Sanitary Departments of the Government of India; New Series). Calcutta: Government Printing Office, 1905; p. 73. 9 The Plague. Br Med J 1907;1:878. 10 Choksy KBNH. On recent progress in the serum therapy of plague. Br Med J 1908;1:1282–84. 11 Choksy NS. Public health in India. Br Med J 1923;569.

Epidemiological Regularities o f Plague in India and Substantiation of Measures on Sanitary Protection of Siberia and Far East Territories

Plague epidemiological situation in India in XX and at the beginning of XXI century is evaluated. The epidemic process is shown to have wavy interrupted course and is divided into periods of annual intensive epidemics, reduction of epidemic activity and sudden development of acute outbreaks on the background of sporadic morbidity absence. Brief characterization of a pulmonary plague epidemic in India in 1994 and undertaken international sanitary and protective measures by the example of Russian Federation and USA is presented. Local outbreaks of pulmonary and bubonic plague in 2002-2004 give evidence of periodically complicated epidemic situation in India. Trend and volume of measures on sanitary protection of territories are substantiated by development of commercial, economical, tourist communications between India and Russia including Regions of Siberian and Far Eastern Federal Districts differing by the degree of plague importation risk.

Spatiotemporal modelling and mapping of the bubonic plague epidemic in India

BackgroundThis work studies the spatiotemporal evolution of bubonic plague in India during 1896–1906 using stochastic concepts and geographical information science techniques. In the past, most investigations focused on selected cities to conduct different kinds of studies, such as the ecology of rats. No detailed maps existed incorporating the space-time dependence structure and uncertainty sources of the epidemic system and providing a composite space-time picture of the disease propagation characteristics.ResultsInformative spatiotemporal maps were generated that represented mortality rates and geographical spread of the disease, and epidemic indicator plots were derived that offered meaningful characterizations of the spatiotemporal disease distribution. The bubonic plague in India exhibited strong seasonal and geographical features. During its entire duration, the plague continued to invade new geographical areas, while it followed a re-emergence pattern at many localities; its rate changed significantly during each year and the mortality distribution exhibited space-time heterogeneous patterns; prevalence usually occurred in the autumn and spring, whereas the plague stopped moving towards new locations during the summers.ConclusionModern stochastic modelling and geographical information science provide powerful means to study the spatiotemporal distribution of the bubonic plague epidemic under conditions of uncertainty and multi-sourced databases; to account for various forms of interdisciplinary knowledge; and to generate informative space-time maps of mortality rates and propagation patterns. To the best of our knowledge, this kind of plague maps and plots become available for the first time, thus providing novel perspectives concerning the distribution and space-time propagation of the deadly epidemic. Furthermore, systematic maps and indicator plots make possible the comparison of the spatial-temporal propagation patterns of different diseases.

Smallpox containment updated: considerations for the 21st century

Smallpox containment updated: considerations for the 21st century

A major new test for plague

In 1894, Alexandre Yersin, a student of Pasteur, first identified the plague bacillus in buboes of corpses in Hong Kong. 1 Bibel DJ Chen TH Diagnosis of plague: an analysis of the Yersin-Kitasato controversy. Bacteriol Rev. 1976; 40: 633-651 PubMed Google Scholar This finding occurred at the beginning of the third plague pandemic, which caused more than 25 million cases and left 12 million dead worldwide. Yersin and other early plague workers used staining, culture, and serology to identify infection with the causative agent, ultimately named Yersinia pestis. Although these classic methods have continued to be diagnostic mainstays for clinical and epidemiological purposes, they lack sensitivity and timeliness (confirmation of infection may take weeks), and are often inapplicable in the remote rural areas where most of the world's 3000–4000 annually reported plague cases occur. 2 WHO Human plague in 1998 and 1999. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2000; 75: 338-339 PubMed Google Scholar The “plague emergency” in India in 1994 highlighted the confusion and costs that can result from inadequate laboratory diagnostics. 3 Campbell GL Hughes JM Plague in India: a new warning from an old nemesis. Ann Intern Med. 1995; 122: 151-153 Crossref PubMed Scopus (52) Google Scholar Still, nearly 10 years on, production of plague diagnostic reagents and experienced and reliable testing is with few exceptions limited to a small number of WHO collaborating centres. The growing concern over bioterrorism further highlights deficiencies in plague testing. 4 Inglesby TV Dennis DT Henderson DA et al. Plague as a biological weapon: medical and public health management. JAMA. 2000; 283: 2281-2290 Crossref PubMed Scopus (839) Google Scholar The critical need is for simple, rapid, and reliable assays to support the clinical diagnosis of an acutely ill patient for whom early specific treatment is essential for survival, and to provide timely information necessary to control spread of the disease. Development and testing of a rapid diagnostic test for bubonic and pneumonic plagueOur RDT is a specific, sensitive, and reliable test that can easily be done by health workers at the patient's bedside, for the rapid diagnosis of pneumonic and bubonic plague. This test will be of key importance for the control of plague in endemic countries. Full-Text PDF

Identification of Yersinia pestis as the causative organism of plague in India as determined by 16S rDNA sequencing and RAPD-based genomic fingerprinting

Eighteen isolates of bacteria obtained from the sputum of pneumonic plague patients and from the liver and spleen of rodents from the plague-affected areas of India during 1994–1995 when analyzed by 16S rDNA analysis clearly demonstrated that all 18 isolates exhibit an average similarity of 98.5% with the genus Yersinia and 99.1% with Yersinia pestis, thus identifying the isolates as Y. pestis. The isolates from the human plague patients were found to be genetically more homogeneous compared to the isolates from the rodents which were more heterogeneous. An epidemiological linkage among the rodents and human patients is also indicated by 16S rDNA analysis, which suggests that only a sub-population of the rodents was probably the source of the infectious pathogen to the humans initiating the outbreak of the epidemic. The results of the randomly amplified DNA polymorphisms (RAPD)-based DNA fingerprinting are in agreement with the above conclusions.

Identification of Yersinia pestis as the causative organism of plague in India as determined by 16S rDNA sequencing and RAPD-based genomic fingerprinting.

Eighteen isolates of bacteria obtained from the sputum of pneumonic plague patients and from the liver and spleen of rodents from the plague-affected areas of India during 1994-1995 when analyzed by 16S rDNA analysis clearly demonstrated that all 18 isolates exhibit an average similarity of 98.5% with the genus Yersinia and 99.1% with Yersinia pestis, thus identifying the isolates as Y. pestis. The isolates from the human plague patients were found to be genetically more homogeneous compared to the isolates from the rodents which were more heterogeneous. An epidemiological linkage among the rodents and human patients is also indicated by 16S rDNA analysis, which suggests that only a sub-population of the rodents was probably the source of the infectious pathogen to the humans initiating the outbreak of the epidemic. The results of the randomly amplified DNA polymorphisms (RAPD)-based DNA fingerprinting are in agreement with the above conclusions.

Impediments to global surveillance of infectious diseases: consequences of open reporting in a global economy.

Globalization has led to an increase in the spread of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. International efforts are being launched to control their dissemination through global surveillance, a major hindrance to which is the failure of some countries to report outbreaks. Current guidelines and regulations on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases do not sufficiently take into account the fact that when developing countries report outbreaks they often derive few benefits and suffer disproportionately heavy social and economic consequences. In order to facilitate full participation in global surveillance by developing countries there should be: better and more affordable diagnostic capabilities to allow for timely and accurate information to be delivered in an open and transparent fashion; accurate, less sensationalist news reporting of outbreaks of diseases; adherence by countries to international regulations, including those of the World Trade Organization and the International Health Regulations; financial support for countries that are economically damaged by the diseases in question. The article presents two cases--plague in India and cholera in Peru--that illuminate some of the limitations of current practices. Recommendations are made on measures that could be taken by WHO and the world community to make global surveillance acceptable.

'Colony' under a Microscope: The Medical Works of W.M. Haffkine

This paper attempts a prosopographical study of an important bacteriologist who made sincere efforts to combat cholera and plague in India through vaccination As an ardent follower of the Pasteurian 'revolution', W.M. Haffkine devoted his life to a series of carefully-controlled and parallel experiments on laboratory animals, and per fected new vaccines. But then, how to transfer laboratory results to actual use for human being? This raised questions relating to the ethics and efficacy of controlled field trials, the reliability of animal models, problems of transference, technical innovations, teamwork, etc. The present paper proposes to analyse the ups and downs in Haffkine's research career in India and through it try to capture the dynamics of medical research and preventive medicine in a colonial setting. In addition, this paper takes into account Haffkine as 'a man of action', his social views, his plague work, his complex relations with the British offi cials in India, and his care and concern for ordinary Indians.

Plague.

Yersinia pestis, the aetiological agent of plague, has in the past caused social devastation on a scale unmatched by other infectious diseases. There is still a public health problem from plague, with at least 2000 cases reported annually. Most of these cases are of the bubonic form. Occasionally bubonic plague develops into pneumonic plague, and this form of the disease can spread rapidly between susceptible individuals. The recent outbreak of plague in India highlighted the potential for plague to explosively re-appear, and modern mass transport systems mean that there is the potential for the rapid spread of disease. Against this background, there is a need to ensure that vaccines and antibiotics are available to prevent and treat the disease. Progress has been made in devising a sub-unit vaccine, effective against bubonic and pneumonic plague. Antibiotics must be given in the early stages of disease to effect a cure.

Infectious Diseases in an Age of Chance: The Impact of Human Ecology and Behavior on Disease Transmission

The decade of the 1990s has been marked by an unprecedented array of highly visible infectious diseases. These have included the appearance of cholera in Latin America for the first time this century, outbreaks of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, upsurges of diphtheria in the former Soviet Union, the discovery of hantavirus-associated disease in the southwestern United States, plague in India, the reawakening of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in Africa, and now the possible link between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and a variant of human Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Great Britain. This seemingly endless string of episodes has served as a reminder that infectious diseases are far from vanquished, and that today this subject is in as great a state of dynamic flux as at any time in its history. Along with these episodes has come a veritable explosion of interest in the subject of emerging infectious diseases by scientists, the print and visual media, and the public, seeking to explain the underlying reasons for the phenomena in order to predict the future course of events.

Surveillance for pneumonic plague in the United States during an international emergency: a model for control of imported emerging diseases.

In September 1994, in response to a reported epidemic of plague in India, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) enhanced surveillance in the United States for imported pneumonic plague. Plague information materials were rapidly developed and distributed to U.S. public health officials by electronic mail, facsimile, and expedited publication. Information was also provided to medical practitioners and the public by recorded telephone messages and facsimile transmission. Existing quarantine protocols were modified to effect active surveillance for imported plague cases at U.S. airports. Private physicians and state and local health departments were relied on in a passive surveillance system to identify travelers with suspected plague not detected at airports. From September 27 to October 27, the surveillance system identified 13 persons with suspected plague; no case was confirmed. This coordinated response to an international health emergency may serve as a model for detecting other emerging diseases and preventing their importation.

Addressing the Challenges of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Through the recent examples of diphtheria in the former Soviet Union, plague in India, and trends in pneumonia mortality in the United States, the author, in this article, illustrates issues in emerging infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control's plan, Addressing Emerging Infectious Disease Threats: A Prevention Strategy for the United States, is summarized. Initial efforts to implement this plan are described, with particular focus on the development of Emerging Infections Programs, which are conducting epidemiologic and laboratory projects on several infectious diseases, including invasive bacterial diseases, unexplained deaths, foodborne diseases, and ehrlichiosis in four population-based sites in the United States.

Addressing the Challenges of Emerging Infectious Diseases

Through the recent examples of diphtheria in the former Soviet Union, plague in India, and trends in pneumonia mortality in the United States, the author, in this article, illustrates issues in emerging infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control's plan, Addressing Emerging Infectious Disease Threats: A Prevention Strategy for the United States, is summarized. Initial efforts to implement this plan are described, with particular focus on the development of Emerging Infections Programs, which are conducting epidemiologic and laboratory projects on several infectious diseases, including invasive bacterial diseases, unexplained deaths, foodborne diseases, and ehrlichiosis in four population-based sites in the United States.