On fifth August 1994 the sarpanch, elected head of the village, Mamla Beed in Maharashtra state, informed in the medical office at Kuppa Primary Health centre about the sudden increase in the number of fleas and rats dying in the village. This was confirmed on 7 August by a medical officer who visited Mamla. On 22nd August the first case of bubonic plague was suspected when a person at Mamla developed symptoms of the disease. After a few days, the doctors prescribed the drug tetracycline, suspecting plague.
The first information about plague occurring at Surat was received on 2nd September. Within the next two weeks about 500,000 people left Surat in a mad Scramble to get away from plague and death and dispersed in the cities of India. There were about fifty deaths at Surat. The first suspected cases of plague were reported at the Infectious Disease Hospital, New Delhi on the evening of 25th September 1994. When cases of suspected plague were diagnosed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and there were cases of death a few days later in the country, the government of Delhi and the government of India and their supporting organizations went
into such frenzied activity that has rarely been seen before. It is not possible to list here all the different doctors, and administrators and scientists and politicians who showed determination and delication to fight this menace. However, at the centre of all the activities, mention should to the made of Dr. Harshvardhan, the then Minister of Health of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, who worked with his team day and night to contain this menace. During this period a highly successful immunization programme for polio was carried out on a October 2nd on the children of Delhi. Tremendous amount of accumulated garbage was removed, thousands of people were referred to the Infections Disease Hospital, and thousands of samples were analysed at the National Institute of Communicate Disease. By October 9, the plague had been contained. During the phase of activity many lives have been lost. India had been isolated from the world as a country where a dreaded scourge had occurred and the loss in foreign exchange, till October 9, 1994 to the country was approximately Rs 200 billion.
All the three systems of alternative medicine offered ways in which people could avoid getting plague or could be cured after having contracted it. Now that the occurrence of this disease has subsided and life has gone back to normal, it is time for our scientists to carry out research to determine if these cures actually work and if so, how well.
Homeopathy doctors recommended that Phosphorus-30 should be taken regularly to avoid plague. Unani physicians recommended three ways to prevent plague. A powder was to be taken which was prepared with Zahar Mohora, Jadwar and Camphor. Drops were to be taken which is made from a mixture out of the following : camphor , pudina and ajwain. The houses were to be fumigated by burning to gether ajwain, neem camphor and sandal wood. The national Academy of Ayurvdeda recommended a tea made from neem leaves, ginger, holy basil of tulsi, and cloves. Another preparation was made from the roots of withania Somnifera or ashwagandha, ambia, pushkar mool and black pepper. Either of these preparation could be taken. Fumigation by burning a combination of twenty plants and other substance, some of which were guggal, neem, shirish, haldi and camphor was recommended.
If some of these medicines show, in scientific experiments, their effectiveness against plague, this would complement the range of allopathic drugs which act against plague. The two drugs most active against plague are tetracycline and streptomycin. These are ably supported by the following other drugs- gentamicin, kanamicin, chloromycetin, sulfa drugs in combination with trimethoprim and doxycycline which is similar to tetracycline. If used correctly and administered early, these drugs cure 90-95 per cent people who have plague. When used irrationally and unnecessarily, these drugs could cause harmful effect and even make the plague bacillus resistant to one or more of these drugs.
As a follow up to these traumatic events when Indian were not allowed to travel to several countries and planes of several airlines refused to come to India, the World Health Organization commended the steps taken by the authorities to contain the disease and sent a team of India to find out more as to why such an attack plague broke out in India and what steps need to be taken to prevent such outbreaks in the future.
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