CHAPTER IX.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Prevalent Diseases—Malaria; in the Agency—In the uplands—In the delta—Cholera—Small-pox—Other diseases—Sanitation. Medical Institutions—Public hospitals and dispensaries— Mission institutions—Institutions in Cocanada—Rajahmundry hospital
The most noticeable of the diseases which afflict the district is malaria. This is worst in the Agency. The Gháts there are densely wooded and the valleys are filled with a tangle of damp jungle, so that during the rains the country is eminently suited to the propagation of the malaria-bearing mosquito. Beyond the Gháts, the lower parts of Bhadráchalam appear to be equally malarious, the villages along the valley of the Saveri river and those lying between it and the Rékapalle hills being the worst parts of the taluk.
Even the Koyas, who have resided for untold generations in the Agency, are not immune to malaria. The disease is said to be chronic among them, and its effects are particularly noticeable in the case of the children. People from the plains suffer far more severely, however; and from the earliest times up to the present day the country has retained a most unenviable reputation for its unhealthiness. The Board of Revenue referred to its 'putrid fever' as far back as 1794; and of the party of 25 men who were recently engaged in inspecting the forests of Rekapalle preparatory to the preparation of the working-plan for their exploitation, almost all subsequently suffered from low fever of a malignant and lingering type, several were dangerously ill, and as many as one-fourth died. It is characteristic of this malaria that it does not as a rule show itself when the victim is in the hill country, but appears in all its virulence as soon as he descends to the plains. One explanation of this fact avers that the system is braced to resist the disease by the cooler air of the hills, but as soon as the patient reaches the hotter plains becomes relaxed, and allows the latent malaria to obtain the upper hand. The agency malaria is generally said to be more prevalent in the cold than in the hot weather, but no season of the year is free from it.
