Preliminary Programme

Writing about typhoid in 1908, Dr L W Darra Mair stated that ‘Belfast has suffered very heavily from this disease; indeed, its experience in this respect has been unique among the cities and towns of the British Isles.’ He further stated that ‘the excessive mortality from fever has not been confined to one small period, but has extended over very many years.’ In 1898 there were 640 deaths from typhoid fever in Belfast and although there was a gradual decline in the incidence of the disease during the twentieth century, until its eventual demise in the 1950s, up to 1909 the mortality-rate from typhoid fever was comparatively high.
This paper will discuss the disease in the city by looking at a number of case studies on different typhoid outbreaks that occurred between 1900 and 1948. It will show how different outbreaks in the city were traced back to contaminated water, while contaminated milk supplies also proved to be the source of several typhoid epidemics in the city. As the title of this paper suggests, incidences of the dissemination of typhoid bacilli by shellfish will be shown to be a factor in its spread in Belfast, as there was no restriction placed on the gathering of shellfish from the foreshore of Belfast Lough, and local people frequently did this in the area in close proximity to the site where sewage was discharged. The paper will show that although the public health department was prompt in tracing the origin of typhoid outbreaks in the city that they were sometimes powerless under the law to prevent further outbreaks. As people who were infected with typhoid, could pass on the bacteria in their faeces and urine, chronic typhoid ‘carriers’ were a factor in the spread of both typhoid and paratyphoid fever in Belfast during the 1920s and 1930s. The paper will examine the difficulties faced by the Medical Superintendent Officer of Health for Belfast with respect to dealing with chronic ‘carriers’ of the disease in the city due to the lack of government legislation to aid in this matter. (Show less)

Over 90 years ago, the Spanish influenza pandemic killed more that 23,000 people and probably made more than 800,000 people ill in Ireland, most within a ten month period. This paper draws on interviews with living witnesses in their nineties and hundreds who spoke about their personal experience of the epidemic as children. Some suffered the disease themselves, while others observed it within their families and communities.
Most of the interviewees were in their 90s when interviewed, but were children of perhaps four or five years of age when the catastrophe struck. Some had well-rehearsed accounts of the pandemic, while for others, the interview was the first time they had spoken of the disease in public, their speech halting, their eyes sometimes welling with tears as they searched through their childhood memories to relate their experiences of this disease.

These interviews show how the epidemic made a lasting impact on the memories of children, even though the event was puzzling as they did not have enough information to make sense of what was happening. Some became curious listeners, trying to glean scraps of information from newspapers and from adult conversations. For those who actually suffered from the disease, the event was frequently recalled as snapshots or scenes between the initial illness and the recovery as they drifted in and out of consciousness in a febrile state. Most recovered, but for some, life and their health changed. One admitted to playing the invalid card for years after.

They told of the illness itself and the medical care they received, allowing us to see differences in how the dispensary and private health care systems worked in 1918 at patient level. They described the various ways parents tried to shield their children from the great public fear about this unpredictable disease which could kill within hours, and related accounts of children forced by circumstance to care for the sick in their community, at great personal risk. They told of the fears the disease left even when it eventually subsided, and sometimes of how their family circumstances were irrevocably changed by the disease. (Show less)

Cholera epidemics often started before the first case was recognised. Authorities as well as the interested public observed the movement of the disease in order to extrapolate if or when it would arrive. Once a local epidemic appeared probable, they took action to prevent an outbreak or at least limit its consequences.
Thus, cholera became an actor at a certain location regardless if the actual disease reached it. The idea of a cholera epidemic was powerful enough to make medical and political authorities propose, prepare and implement measures. Yet the power of the idea of cholera exceeded the realm of reaction and prevention. It also altered the perception of the local environment, as medical practitioners and officials looked for clues how the disease would behave. Aspects of daily life gained a new significance, as they hinted at potential footholds for the disease.
In my paper I will discuss cases of cholera scares in two colonial cities: Madras and Quebec. (Show less)