The "Yellow Plague" of 1883: A Historical Analysis of Egypt's Epidemic

If the summer of 1882 brought an unwelcome visitor — the British occupation — the summer of the following year brought an equally, if not more, unwelcome visitor to Egypt: the cholera epidemic, traced here by Dr Yunan Labib Rizq in the 25th instalment of Al-Ahram: A Diwan of Contemporary Life. Reading Egyptian history through the newspaper's pages, he follows the epidemic's course In Egypt of the late 19th century, cholera was referred to as the "yellow plague". Its periodic invasions were recorded by historians for centuries. The Egyptian historian Abdel-Rahman Al-Jabarti, in his book The Wonders of Antiquity in Lives and Events, makes mention of these visits. The last cholera epidemic to visit Egypt had been in 1865, two years after Ismail acceded to power, and Al-Ahram had several observations to record: "This unwelcome infiltrator into the country originated in India and generally arrived via the Egyptian pilgrims who had been infected by the pilgrims from India. This necessitated enhancing the quarantine system in Al-Wajh, a port on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba which lies on the Egyptian route to the pilgrimage and which until 1892 had been under Egyptian administration. The dates of its visits were well-known. It arrived with the beginning of summer, attained its peak in June and lasted until August when the first signs of the flooding of the Nile heralded the plague's departure. Perhaps those who later categorized it as one of the 'summer illnesses' were not too far off. Most of the victims were from the poor popular districts in both the provincial cities and the major urban centres. These were the neighbourhoods that lacked sanitation facilities essential to containing and terminating the disease." Contrary to the first principle which Al-Ahram outlined, this time the cholera epidemic entered from the north and not the east. It began in Damietta. On the evening, of Friday, 22 June, there were several mysterious deaths among the inhabitants of Al-Birka alley, situated in the northern part of the city. The following day, the phenomenon spread to Al-Manshia alley. These two neighbourhoods formed "twothirds of the city and their inhabitants are poor without regular means of substance," as Al-Ahram put it. Before the day was out, people discovered that cholera was the cause of death. Al-Ahram attributed the fact that the illness did not come from the east this time to the stringent quarantine measures in force in the port of Al-Wajh. They ascribed its infiltration from the north to "the negligence of the doctors associated with the Council of Health and they are the ones who should be held responsible if, God forbid, the illness spreads." Al-Ahram also mentioned reports from Italian and French newspapers to the effect that the plague had appeared in Damietta in the beginning of June, yet "the military cordon around the city was only established on 26 June." Al-Ahram was extremely disturbed by this news and the following day it addressed the Council of Health, the organisation that fulfilled the functions of the Ministry of Health at that time, exhorting its members to stop being negligent and lazy, since "human souls are precious and life is dear." The letter from the Al-Ahram correspondent in Damietta clearly shows the fear and apprehension that had taken hold of the man. After describing the aggravated conditions caused by the spread of the disease he said: "How deserving we are of pity and prayer now that we are confined to this circle of death from which there is no way out unless the Lord intervenes to ease the affliction and lift from us our accursed plague." The rest of Egypt was to suffer the despair of the Al-Ahram representative in Damietta. While he was not able to escape the ill-fated city, the disease was, and from there it paid calls throughout the length and breadth of the country. While Al-Ahram continued to follow the cholera epidemic wherever it appeared, the report which appeared in the front page of edition 1802 of 25 July, 1883 was the most explicit regarding the path the fearsome disease had taken. It said that after appearing in Damietta, it spread to Shirbin and Mansoura, but that it was being contained in a manner that inspired reassurance and hope for a solution in the hearts of Egyptians; yet, "while we were anticipating its departure, it arose in Giza and arrived in the capital where its progress was unlike that of previous cases, for it immediately wrought rapid devastation. It... struck Boulaq, killing many inhabitants of this neighbourhood. It had spread to most cities and villages in the Delta. Shebin Al-Kom was hit particularly hard, suffering a horrendous number of deaths." Until that point, the cholera epidemic had not reached Alexandria or Upper Egypt, but it was not to be delayed for long. The story of the five-month long epidemic in part arouses grief and at times prompts a smile. However, historians have not paid it the attention that it received from Al-Ahram. One aspect was to affect Al-Ahram directly. On Thursday, 28 June Al-Ahram readers awoke to find that it had been reduced to two pages, as it had been during the revolutionary battle. The reason, explained in that issue, was that "some of the labourers have left us out of fear of the disease." Still, the writers suggested that other newspapers had fared even worse, suspending publication altogether for fear of the plague. Among the news items of 21 July was the following: "The newspaper Mir'at Al-Sharq (The Mirror of the East) cannot be published at the moment due to the plague that has spread in the capital, the sudden departure of its printing workers and the inability to find replacements for them due to the epidemic." Al-Ahram had also been the target of a news report in the newspaper Al-Borhan, which charged that Al-Ahram's owners had flown out of the country, Selim Taqla to Syria and Bishara to Europe. The paper was obliged to assert that its two owners "remain in their posts in Alexandria, performing their duties as usual." Another aspect of the plague which affected Al-Ahram directly was the campaign the newspaper waged against the Council of Health, and which earned it the first warning it was to receive in the era of occupation. It was Al-Ahram's position that the negligence of the Council of Health was the prime factor behind the alarmingly rapid spread of the epidemic. Although Al-Ahram began its campaign with the first signs of the epidemic, it reached its climax in the editorial article of edition 1684 of 5 July, following the publication of a Council of Health advisory in the official gazette, Al-Waqa'i Al-Misriya, which said: "We have no doubt that this unforeseen illness is from abroad." Al-Ahram responded angrily that the Council was trying to evade responsibility and cast the blame on the eastern Council of Health and the quarantine commission. It asked what had caused the delay in the arrival at Damietta of the doctors commissioned by the Council to attend to the patients there, "for they only arrived four days ago." It concluded: "The condemnation we wrote and will write is directed against those negligent of and delinquent in the fulfilment of their civil and moral duties, which are not restricted under these circumstances to one area over another." Al-Ahram finally received a warning which it published on the front page of its 10 July issue. The published warning referred to "a lengthy sentence published under the headline 'Al-Waqa'i Al-Misriya' and including an invalid condemnation of the Council of Health for excessive negligence in the performance of its duties." Al-Ahram could not but respond that "the order not to become involved in matters concerning the Council of Health prompts us not to investigate this matter in the future. Rather, we will leave this matter to public opinion." While many fled the plague within the country to areas where it had not yet struck, a large number began to flee abroad. Inside the country, Alexandria was the first refuge, according to a news item printed in Al-Ahram on 20 July; Alexandria had become "the refuge for the alarmed and the shelter for those fleeing... the plague." Suez was the second point of refuge. Most of the refugees there were foreigners, according to the 25 July issue: "English military men arrived from the capital, fleeing the epidemic. Some Belgian judges also arrived and were invited to stay at the residence of the Belgian Consul. Our office in Suez reports that refugees from the epidemic have filled the hotels and the streets are crowded with the influx of people from the afflicted areas." As for the flight from Egypt, this was recorded by the Al-Ahram correspondent in Beirut who remarked that "this city has become an asylum for those fleeing the ravages of the epidemic since it first appeared in Egypt. The heavy influx of refugees from Egypt prompted the quarantine commission in Beirut to toughen their measures against Egyptians who complained of poor treatment." A third aspect of the story covered by Al-Ahram and other newspapers at the time concerns the position of the Khedive with regard to his subjects. The Taqla family tried to portray in its reports that the Khedive Tawfiq remained among his subjects throughout this period. In one issue Al-Ahram reported: "Last Sunday morning, His Highness the Khedive visited the government hospital and toured the patients' rooms inquiring as to their health." Another article commented: "When news of the misery that afflicted Damietta reached His Highness, he did not merely dispatch the means to contain the illness, he was moved by such a sense of pity that in order to protect the Porte he acted as a father toward his son." What Al-Ahram portrayed, however, may not necessarily have coincided with the Khedive's desire to protect himself from the possibility of contamination. These precautions became evident on several occasions. For example, for days at a time, he refused to receive petitioners on the pretext that he had a cold. On one occasion, he refused to receive people as was customary on the Eid Al-Fitr (Lesser Bairam — the feast to celebrate the end of Ramadan), claiming that he was too preoccupied fighting the epidemic. However, the most interesting incident in this regard is the warning which was received by the newspaper Al-Zaman for having published "rumours concerning the health of His Highness the Khedive." This coincided with a statement from the Interior Ministry which said: "Let all be informed that the health of His Highness the Khedive is in excellent and in full and constant vigour, may God prolong his health." The epidemic took a considerable toll on life in Egypt during those months. The economic losses were considerable. Al-Ahram relates: "As is well known, businesses have closed and people are fleeing. Matters are not expected to return to normal as long as the effects of the disease can be felt. And the longer this catastrophe lasts the greater our losses and the harsher our suffering will become." The epidemic also caused the elections scheduled for the end of the summer and the beginning of the scholastic year to be postponed. When it became evident that the cholera epidemic was prolonging its stay, the Ministry of Education published a decree "prolonging the public holiday until students can once more assemble in their schools. This will be 15 days after the cholera epidemic ends." Al-Ahram became actively involved during those five months in trying to raise the level of public consciousness on how to combat the disease. Scarcely an issue passed without an article about the history of the disease, prophylactic measures to take and instructions on how to treat it. An article entitled "Useful Advice for the Time of the Cholera Plague" took up most of the first page of edition 1681 of 2 July. Its author offers nine recommendations regarding the treatment of diarrhoea, the need to rest lying flat on one's back, forbidding water to those infected, avoiding potentially harmful fruit and vegetables, vigilance in cleanliness, and moderation in all aspects of life. The following day's edition (number 1682) included an editorial commentary by Dr Alexander Effendi Rizqallah, who advised "observing all rules of sound health in matters of food, drink and clothing and particular attention to matters of the preparation of food." He also asks Egyptians to "keep the windows of your houses open for a sufficient amount of time to renew the air within, to sleep alone if possible and to pay close attention to bodily hygiene and changing clothes daily." The most remarkable advice came from Dr Ibrahim Taqla and appeared in Al-Ahram of 26 June under the headline, "The Cholera Epidemic". He cautioned that foods to be avoided were those prepared with "ripe vegetables and fruits such as cantaloupe, watermelons, apricots, cucumbers and zucchini. The best food to eat is mutton prepared as cutlets, beefsteak, kebab free of fat, with sauce or soup, and rice is acceptable." Clearly, the poor, who were most severely affected by the plague, could not follow this doctor's advice. Finally, Al-Ahram also participated in the campaigns to fill the lakes in the cholera-infested areas and to remove piles of garbage. The paper also published one notable suggestion put forward by the Ministry of Interior which was "to ignite massive fires in the infected areas so as to purify the air. The benefit derived from this would be great indeed!" Beginning in August 1883, with the signs of the forthcoming flooding of the Nile, news of the epidemic's retreat began to take up a goodly portion of the newspapers' space. Although the actual end of the plague took longer than anticipated, particularly in Alexandria and Upper Egypt, where it had arrived relatively late and would have to run its course, the 21 August edition of Al-Ahram told its readers, "There are indications that the disease has almost passed. Thanks for this is due to the efforts of men from the Council of Health and the government who have been able to overcome this disease." That same day, the newspaper reported that the number of deaths due to the cholera epidemic, according to statistics from the Council of Health, were 21,524 as compared to more than 60,000 during the preceding epidemic in 1865. This inspired Al-Ahram to comment, "The disaster has not been that extensive. If we compare this catastrophe with that which preceded it, we will have learned the value of industry and diligence." In spite of these tidings, the epidemic's visit lasted until the beginning of November. True, Al-Ahram, as of 11 October, returned to its original length, four pages, which was a sign that life was beginning to return to normal in Alexandria. However, it would still publish daily the statements from the Naval Council of Health and the Quarantine Commission, two of which we cite below. The first is dated 7-8 November and reports that "Two people died of cholera in Alexandria, one European and one Egyptian. Deaths of normal causes were 19." The second was dated 14-15 November and said, "No one died of cholera in Alexandria." After this date, the reports from the Council of Health stopped. At the same time, one's attention is attracted by the following advertisement that appeared on the same day as this last report: "As of today, we re-open our cafe, known as the Cafe of the East (Qahwat Al-Sharq), located in front of the Agency of Ratib Pasha, where one can obtain refreshing drinks and listen to musical instruments." Apparently, the epidemic was officially over for the cafe-going clientele. Al-Ahram was quick to remark on how rapidly life returned to normal, in spite of the fact that some imagined that "the blow has torn the flesh and gnawed at the bones, leaving nothing behind." In response Al-Ahram said, "The clouds of these presentiments have vanished from Egypt, the land of wonders and font of miracles." With this, Al-Ahram closes the chapter on the cholera epidemic of 1883. * A version of this article appears in print in the 6 January, 1994 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link: