September 18, 1994, was the last day of India's Elephant God Festival. The streets of Surat, an industrial city in Gujarat, are alive with activity. Thousands of men were singing and dancing in the streets, celebrating their traditional festival. The people were immersed in happiness, peace and joy. ...... But who knew that a deadly plague had crept into their midst? The next day, the city of Surat, the hospital has just been inaugurated soon, received 30 patients with similar conditions. Their symptoms were: high fever, coughing, sneezing, vomiting blood and fainting. Since then, another group of patients has been admitted to the hospital. On September 20, the first patient died in the hospital; then a number of other patients died one after another. From the external observation of these dead people: they were all black, convex with a pair of wide-open eyes, and the pain was horrible to see. At first the doctors did not know that the patients were suffering from the dreaded plague. It's no wonder, since the plague has been virtually extinct since India's last plague pandemic in 1966, and many doctors have never encountered the disease.
At this point, it was suspected that it was caused by poisoning of the drinking water source by bad people, and the municipal authorities ordered that the tap water supply be cut off and the condition of the water source be surveyed. Later, it was heard that bubonic plague was then prevalent in Ladur near Mahashtra. Doctors immediately tested blood samples, which showed that these patients were suffering from this disease, and realized that a disaster had struck. The medical conditions in Surat were very poor, the medical equipment was very backward, the medical force was seriously insufficient, the medicines for treating the disease were pitifully scarce, and there was an acute shortage of tetracycline, sulfonamide and other medicines needed to treat the plague. By October 4, more than 1,000 people had been admitted to hospitals for treatment and examination, and 50 of them died of the disease. At this point, the city of Surat was like facing a brutal war, in a very urgent state ...... News of the plague epidemic spread. It didn't take long for the word to spread throughout the city of Surat.
At one time, people vying for medicines flocked to the city and long queues formed in front of medicine stores. This terrible disease made the residents of Surat city as frightened as ants on a hot pan day and night. In order to escape from this scourge, they fled from this plague-infested city in a hurry, taking all available means of transportation with them, old and young. The train and bus stations were crowded with thousands of fleeing people every day. The city's police chief exclaimed, " Even thousands of policemen could not stop the flow of cars and people fleeing in all directions." Within a few days, 300,000 people had fled in fear from Surat, a city of only two million people. ...... Those who remained in the city were also in a state of panic. Stores, markets, theaters and other public **** services closed, many factories closed, schools closed, parents do not allow children to go out. During the day, people out of the people are wearing masks, no masks, with handkerchiefs, scarves, etc. cover the mouth and nose, thinking that this will be able to avoid the disaster; evening, people do not dare to go out, the streets are empty, as silent as death. The city of Surat at this time, like a terrible ghost town.
300,000 citizens of Surat fled to the four corners of India, while bringing the plague germs and fear to all parts of the country. In less than two weeks, the dreaded plague had spread to seven Indian states and the administrative district of New Delhi: Gujarat, where Surat is located, was the area where the plague was most prevalent, with the highest number of infected and dead people. The city of Mumbai, neighboring Surat, was the first target for refugees, and the state of Maharashtra, where the city is located, has infected as many as 2,105 people. In the capital city of New Delhi, 770 people were hospitalized and examined, 36 were diagnosed with the plague and four died. In addition, the number of patients is increasing in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. The clutches of bubonic plague have also touched the remote states of Jammu and Kashmir. According to official statistics, as many as 4,780 patients were examined or treated in hospitals across the country within two weeks, and there were almost daily reports of deaths. In places such as New Delhi, hospitals for infectious diseases have become so overcrowded that the authorities have had to create temporary isolation wards in general hospitals. Medical conditions in both infectious disease hospitals and temporary isolation wards are deplorable. Dozens of patients were crammed into a dimly lit ward, with doors and windows open, mosquitoes and flies flying around, and rats, the media for spreading the plague, playing on the floor, windowsills, and roofs - where is the place to treat the sick! Many patients fled their wards because they could not stand the deplorable conditions. The health department had to organize a special police squad to track down these patients everywhere to prevent them from spreading germs.
The sudden onset of the plague came as a shock to the unprepared Indian authorities. There were too many patients for hospitals to cope with, and they were rushed into emergency situations. Drugs are in short supply, and many pharmacies are no longer able to get medicines to cure the disease. Extremely alarmed citizens, rushed to buy vaccines and antibacterial antibiotic, a few places even if there are drugs were quickly snapped up. As a result, the Indian health authorities had to ask for support from the World Health Organization and other countries to meet the urgent needs. However, what was even more frightening was the panic and hysteria caused by the fear of the plague. The 300,000 citizens of Surat who fled thought they would be safe from the demonic grip of the city. Unexpectedly, they were unwelcome everywhere they went. They had no choice but to return to their homes. This mass exodus spread panic along with the bubonic plague throughout India. Many cities, such as New Delhi, Mumbai, and Calcutta, were thrown into panic and chaos.......
The epidemic of the bubonic plague was a very frightening and virulent plague. This plague is caused by the bubonic plague bacillus. When a rat dies, the rat flea carrying a large number of bacteria will have to look for a new host, so that the disease is passed on to the healthy rats, and then by the bite of the rat flea and infected to human beings. Patients suffering from the plague, in the light of the lymphatic inflammation, the pathogen invades the blood, causing septicemia, and pneumonia, the whole body black, eyes bulging out, painful to the Yellow Springs. Moreover, this disease spreads very quickly, if not timely suppression, will spread rapidly, causing a large number of deaths.