Storia Nostra: Bastia 1902, “the most contaminated city in France” because of the epidemics of diphtheria and smallpox

L‘ignorance from population and the strength of prejudices hinder the therapies recommended by doctors. Dr. Pascal Zuccarelli deplore it in an epidemiological study, denouncing the unsanitary conditions of housing and the lack of hygiene

At the beginning of the XX^e In the twentieth century, epidemics raged in Corsica and especially in Bastia, where health surveillance, ignoring the law of November 30, 1892, made it difficult to research the causes of the disease.

In the past, reporting of communicable diseases was done very infrequently and incompletely. “Practitioners have, so to speak, never at their disposal the notebooks with postcards used to declare to the town hall and the sub-prefecture contagious affections”, laments Dr. Pascal Zuccarelli, author in 1902, of a Medical history of the city of Bastia which is authoritative, having obtained from the Academy of Medicine the mention “very honorable”. ⁽¹⁾

Despite these difficulties due in part to the ineffectiveness of the public authorities, the doctors of Bastia have succeeded in mapping the epidemic diseases, “particularly frequent and deadly” – diphtheria, smallpox, typhoid – street by street, district by district. In 1899, in only one house on rue de l’Opéra, the three pathologies mentioned here were recorded in one month.

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The presence of stables in this sector is undoubtedly not unrelated to it. “It is admitted, in fact, that the germ of this disease often comes from piles of straw and manure. “ No street is spared.

“A more detailed examination reveals that it is especially the old working-class quarters, the narrow and badly ventilated streets, the low and damp congested houses that have been the most affected. “

The lack of hygiene which affects unsanitary housing is an aggravating factor. “The insalubrity of Bastia is due to the inertia of the population, which, not putting up any resistance to the invasion of diseases, thus allows them to establish themselves and consequently to remain in an endemic state. “

A disease almost unknown in the 1870s, diphtheria wreaked havoc from 1891 to 1893, breaking out in a street, gaining a neighborhood and then spreading everywhere with significant mortality.

Deprived of a laboratory, physicians cannot refine their diagnosis with bacteriological controls.

In 1898, the disease was brought to Bastia by a child from the canton of Vescovato. A double injection of serum saved him, but two contagious cases were found in the house where he is staying, and the disease has spread to the entire city.

Non-disinfected laundry is responsible for the transmission of diphtheria, as are bedding and furniture. “Infected once by the passage of a diphtheria, they preserve morbid germs in perpetuity and become real foci of the disease”, writes Doctor Pascal Zuccarelli, citing the case of a six-year-old child saved by an injection. “The father disinfects his apartments and thinks he has averted all danger. Some time later, the same child again fell prey to intense diphtheria and succumbed to the new attacks of the plague. “

Sometimes it is through a lack of public powers that the disease spreads. The municipality is not effective enough in prophylaxis according to Pascal Zuccarelli, citing the case of a family affected on Boulevard du Palais and claiming in vain for free disinfection.

However, he was refused the disinfection liquid as well as the worker responsible for operating the device. “All these causes have made Bastia the most contaminated city in France for several years”, points out Dr. Zuccarelli, supporting statistics.

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Smallpox imported from Marseille by Corsican sailors

In 1892 alone, there were 87 cases of death from diphtheria per 25,000 inhabitants in Bastia, but only 15 in Ajaccio, 1 in Sartène, none in Corte and Calvi. In Marseille, there are 573 cases of death from diphtheria for 420,000 inhabitants.

Smallpox, which had no longer appeared, reappeared in 1899 when a few isolated cases were discovered in the New Port district, and the city quickly became infested, whereas this contamination could have been avoided: “The practitioners tried immediately to stop the progress of the scourge by enlightening the population on the means of defense to be employed, but throughout 1900 they encountered invincible resistance due to ignorance and prejudice. “

Thus, the smallpox epidemic which broke out in October 1899, did not end until April 1901. Doctor Pascal Zuccarelli explains the mechanism of the disease through a clinical case which occurred by importation and which occurred. spread directly or indirectly.
On October 5, 1899, he was called to a villa in Toga by a historian living in Paris and passing through Corsica, suffering from a severe smallpox eruption.

“Our research allows us to confirm that this is the first case that has occurred in Bastia. “ Medicine is astonished, because the district is “healthy and sparsely populated.” “

However, after an epidemiological investigation, it appears that smallpox was rampant in Marseille. “Corsican sailors coming from this city had arrived in our port without surveillance, without preventive isolation, without the slightest disinfection. “ One of them, already affected by the disease, was waiting on the road to Toga for the car to take him to Luri, where he is from. “The mere fact of its presence, however short-lived it may have been, is enough to infect an entire neighborhood. “

“These were the beginnings of the epidemic. They are due to the facilities with which we can embark on our boats. The simple observance of the most elementary maritime health police regulations would have saved us from contamination. “

Good prophylaxis could have got the better of smallpox, “but nothing was done to effectively prevent contagion from spreading.”

Realizing the extent of the evil, the Council of Hygiene and Sanitation asks the mayor to apply the municipal decrees concerning public hygiene, and asks that the municipal oven be used to disinfect the premises, linens and various objects having been in contact with smallpox.

Lost time: these recommendations meet with indifference if not contempt, rendering the fight against the epidemic ineffective. In addition, the recommended isolation of patients turns out to be impossible in disadvantaged classes:
“Consider that in many homes there is only one bedroom for all members of the same family …”

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(1) Dr. Pascal Zuccarelli. Medical history of the city of Bastia. Preface by Mr. Brouardel, member of the Institute of the Academy of Medicine. Bastia printing press Ollagnier 1902.

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