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QUARANTINE (Fr. quarantaine, a period...
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See also:QUARANTINE (Fr. quarantaine, a See also:period of See also:forty days 1) , a See also:term originally applied to the old sanitary preventive See also:system of detention of See also:ships and men,. unlading of See also:cargo in lazarets, See also:fumigation of susceptible articles, &c., which was practised at seaports on See also:account of the See also:plague, in connexion with the Levantine See also:trade. It is now a thing of the past in the See also:United See also:Kingdom and in the See also:majority of other states. But, in See also:common usage, the same word is applied to the sanitary rules and regulations which are the See also:modern substitutes for quarantine. The plague was the only disease for which quarantine was practised (not to mention the earlier See also:isolation of lepers, and the attempts to check the invasion of syphilis in See also:northern See also:Europe about 1490) down to the See also:advent of yellow See also:fever in See also:Spain at the beginning of the 19th See also:century, and the arrival of See also:Asiatic See also:cholera in 1831. See also:Venice took the See also:lead in See also:measures to check the spread of plague, having appointed three guardians of the public See also:health in the first years of the See also:Black See also:Death (1348). The next See also:record of preventive measures comes from Reggio in See also:Modena in 1374. The first lazaret was founded by Venice in 1403, on a small See also:island adjoining the See also:city; in 1467 See also:Genoa followed the example of Venice; and in 1476 the old leper See also:hospital of See also:Marseilles was converted into a plague hospital—the See also:great lazaret of that city, perhaps the most See also:complete of its See also:kind, having been founded in 1526 on the island of Pomegue. The practice at all the Mediterranean lazarets was not different from the See also:English See also:procedure in the Levantine and See also:North-See also:African trade. On the approach of cholera in 1831 some new lazarets were set up at western ports, notably a very extensive See also:establishment near See also:Bordeaux, afterwards turned to another use. The plague had disappeared from See also:England, never to return, for more than See also:thirty years before the practice of quarantine against it was definitely established by an See also:act of See also:Parliament of See also:Queen See also:Anne's reign (1710). The first act was called for, owing to an alarm lest plague should be imported from See also:Poland and the Baltic; the second act of 1721 was due to the disastrous pre-See also:valence of plague at Marseilles and other places in See also:Provence; it was renewed in 1733 owing to a fresh outbreak of the malady on the See also:continent of Europe, and again in 1743 owing to the disastrous epidemic at See also:Messina. In 1752 a rigorous quarantine clause was introduced into an act regulating the Levantine trade; and various arbitrary orders were issued during the next twenty years to meet the supposed danger of infection from the Baltic. Although no plague cases ever came to England all those years, the restrictions on See also:traffic became more amd more stringent (following the movements of medical See also:dogma), and in 1788 a very oppressive Quarantine Act was passed, with provisions affecting cargoes in particular. The first See also:year of the 19th century marked the turning-point in quarantine legislation; a See also:parliamentary See also:committee sat on the practice, and a more reasonable act arose on their See also:report. In 1805 there was another new act, and in 1823–24 again an elaborate inquiry followed by an act making the quarantine only at discretion of the privy See also:council, and at the same See also:time recognizing yellow fever " or other highly infectious disorder " as calling for quarantine measures along 1 The strict sense of the term is also preserved in the " widows' quarantine," the right of a widow to remain in the See also:principal See also:house belonging to her See also:husband for forty days after his death. with plague. The steady approach of cholera in 1831 was the I from the privy council to the See also:Local See also:Government See also:Board the last occasion in England of a thoroughgoing resort to quarantine See also:powers to See also:deal with ships arriving infected with yellow fever or restrictions. The pestilence invaded every See also:country of Europe plague, the powers to deal with cholera ships having been despite all efforts to keep it out. In England the experiment already transferred by the Public Health Act of 1875. of hermetically sealing the ports was not seriously tried when The existing See also:British regulations are those of 9th See also:November 1896; cholera returned in 1849, 1853 and 1865-66. In 1847 the privy they apply to yellow fever, plague and cholera. See also:Officers of the council ordered all arrivals with clean bills from the Black See also:Sea Customs, as well as of See also:Coast Guard and Board of Trade (for signalling), and the See also:Levant to be admitted to See also:free pratique, provided there are empowered to take the initial steps. They certify in See also:writing the See also:master of a supposed infected See also:ship, and detain the See also:vessel See also:pro- had been no See also:case of plague during the voyage; and therewith visionally for not more than twelve See also:hours, giving See also:notice meanwhile the last remnant of the once formidable quarantine practice to the See also:port sanitary authority. The medical officer of the port against plague may be said to have disappeared. boards the ship and examines every See also:person in it. Every person pro-For a number of years after the passing of the first Quarantine found infected is certified of the fact, removed to a hospital pro- vided (if his See also:condition allow), and kept under the orders of the Act (1710) the protective practices in England were of the most medical officer. If the sick cannot be removed, the vessel remains haphazard and arbitrary kind. In 1721 two vessels laden with under his orders. Every person suspected (owing to his or her See also:cotton goods, &c., from See also:Cyprus, then a seat of plague, were immediate attendance on the sick) may be detained on board ordered to be burned with their cargoes, the owners receiving forty-eight hours, or removed to the hospital for a like period. z See also:indemnity. y B the clause in the Levant Trade Act All others are free to See also:land on giving the addresses of their destina- £ 3,93 as Y tions to be sent to the respective local authorities, so that the of 1752 vessels for the United Kingdom with a foul See also:bill (i.e. dispersed passengers and See also:crew may be kept individually under coming from a country where plague existed) had to repair to observation for a few days. The ship is disinfected, dead bodies the lazarets of See also:Malta, Venice, Messina, See also:Leghorn, Genoa or buried at sea, infected clothing, bedding, &c., destroyed or disinfected, and See also:bilge-See also:water and water-See also:ballast (subject to exceptions) pumped Marseilles, to perform their quarantine or to have their cargoes out at a suitable distance before the ship enters a See also:dock or See also:basin. " sufficiently opened and aired." Since 1741 Stangate See also:Creek Mails are subject to no detention. A stricken ship within 3 See also:miles (on the See also:Medway) had been made the quarantine station at of the See also:shore must See also:fly at the See also:main a yellow and black See also:flag See also:borne See also:home; but it would appear from the above clause that it was quarterly from sunrise to sunset. available only for vessels with clean bills. In 1755 lazarets in See also:International Conventions.—Since 1852 several conferences the See also:form of floating hulks were established in England for the have been held between delegates of the Powers, with a view to first time, the cleansing of cargo (particularly by exposure to See also:uniform See also:action in keeping out infection from the See also:East and pre-dews) having been done previously on the ship's See also:deck. There venting its spread within Europe; all but that of 1897 were was no medical inspection employed, but the whole routine See also:left occupied with cholera. No result came of those at See also:Paris 1852, to the officers of customs and quarantine. In 1780, when plague See also:Constantinople 1866, See also:Vienna 1874, and See also:Rome 1885, but each of was in Poland, even vessels with See also:grain from the Baltic had to See also:lie the subsequent ones has been followed by an international forty days in quarantine, and unpack and See also:air the sacks; but See also:convention on the See also:part of nearly one-See also:half of the Powers repreowing to remonstrances, which came chiefly from See also:Edinburgh sented. The See also:general effect has been an See also:abandonment of the and See also:Leith, grain was from that date declared to be a " non- high quarantine See also:doctrine of " constructive infection " of a ship susceptible See also:article." About 1788 an See also:order of council required as coming from a scheduled port, and an approximation to the every ship liable to quarantine, in case of See also:meeting any vessel principles advocated by Great See also:Britain for many years. The at sea, or within four leagues of the coast of Great Britain or principal States which retain the old system are Spain, See also:Portugal, See also:Ireland, to hoist a yellow flag in the daytime and show a See also:light See also:Turkey, See also:Greece and See also:Russia (the British possessions See also:Gibraltar, at the maintopmast See also:head at See also:night, under a See also:penalty of £zoo. Malta and Cyprus being under the same See also:influence). The aim After 'Soo, ships from plague-countries (or with foul bills) were of each international sanitary convention has been to bind the enabled to perform their quarantine on arrival in the Medway Powers to a uniform minimum of preventive action, with further instead of taking a Mediterranean port on the way for that restrictions permissible to individual States. The minimum is purpose; and about the same time an extensive lazaret was now very nearly the same as the British practice, which has been built on Chetney See also: The. principle of notification was sixty-five days, including the time for reshipment of her cargo. unanimously adopted. Each Government is to notify to other Pilots had to pass fifteen days on board a " convalescent ship." Governments the existence of plague within their several jurisdic- tions, expenses may be estimated from one or two examples. In tions, and at the same time See also:state the measures of prevention which Y are being carried out to prevent its See also:diffusion. The See also:area deemed to 182o the " See also:Asia," 763 tons, arrived in the Medway with a foul bill be infected is limited to the actual See also:district or See also:village where the from See also:Alexandria, laden with See also:linseed; her See also:freight was £1475 disease prevails, and no locality is deemed to be infected merely and her quarantine dues £610. The same year the " Pilato," because of the importation into it of a few cases of plague while tons, making the same voyage, paid £200 quarantine dues tions has been no diffusion of the malady. As regards the precau-495 ons to be taken on land frontiers, it was decided that during the on a freight of £1060. In 1823 the expenses of the quarantine prevalence of plague every country had the inherent right to See also:close service (at various ports) were £26,090, and the dues paid by its land frontiers against traffic. As regards the Red Sea, it was See also:shipping (nearly all with clean bills) £22,000. A return for the decided after discussion that a healthy vessel may pass through United Kingdom and colonies in 1849 showed, among other the Suez Canal, and continue its voyage in the Mediterranean during the period of incubation of the disease the prevention of which is details, that the expenses of the lazaret at Malta for ten years in question. It was also agreed that vessels passing through the from 1839 to 1848 had been £53,553. From 1846 onwards the Canal in quarantine might, subject to the use of the electric light, establishments in the United Kingdom were gradually reduced, See also:coal in quarantine at Port Said by night as well as by See also:day, and that while• the last vestige of the British quarantine See also:law was removed passengers might embark in quarantine at that port. Infected the Public Health Act 1896, which repealed the Quarantine vessels, if these carry a See also:doctor and are provided with a disinfecting by PBa Q See also:stove, have a right to navigate the Canal in quarantine, subject Act 1825 (with dependent clauses of other acts), and transferred only to the landing of those who are suffering from plague, and of such persons as have been in actual contact with the sick or with infected articles, together with the disinfection of the infected compartment of the vessel. Passing on to the conclusions dealing with regulations to be imposed " in Europe," the following are the See also:chief points to be noted:—As regards measures to be adopted at ports of arrival, the conclusions of the Dresden convention were as far as practicable adhered to. In the case of healthy vessels, i.e. those on board of which there is no illness, though they have sailed from an infected port, it was decided that they should at once have free pratique, but at the See also:option of the local authority certain measures of disinfection of soiled articles may be required. For suspected vessels, viz. those on board of which there has been plague, but no fresh case within twelve days, some limited processes of disinfection, &c., as defined, having been complied with, it is recommended that the crew and passengers should be subject to surveillance for a period of ten days from the date of the arrival of the vessel. In the case of infected vessels, viz. those on which plague is actually See also:present, or on which that disease has occurred ten days before arrival, the sick are to be landed and isolated, and the See also:remainder of those on board are to be subjected, at the discretion of the local authority, to " observation " or " surveillance " for a period not exceeding ten days from the date of the occurrence of the last case of plague. In this convention the terms " observation " and " surveillance " are for the first time clearly defined; the See also:definition as to the latter stating that under that system passengers are not to be isolated, but are to be allowed at once to proceed to their homes, where they can remain under medical supervision so long as may be deemed necessary by the local authority. The results of this conference indicated a great advance on the part of the nationalities represented towards a liberal and truly scientific conception of the means to be adopted by their respective Governments for the prevention and See also:control of infective diseases. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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