0:00:03 > 0:00:07Dan? It's Dr Sharma. I'm here to help you.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Everything's all right.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12- Let's take you home.- Oh, no!
0:00:13 > 0:00:15- What is it?- No closer.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17I'm sorry.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19No, stay back.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21It's smallpox.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27This spring, drama series The Indian Doctor
0:00:27 > 0:00:30returns to BBC Wales.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Series Two sees Dr Prem Sharma and the community
0:00:33 > 0:00:35of the fictional South Wales town of Trefelin
0:00:35 > 0:00:39facing a new and life-threatening challenge -
0:00:39 > 0:00:41smallpox.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44- What happened? Where is Kamini? - Kamini is fine.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48'It's a story inspired by real-life events -
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'a smallpox outbreak in South Wales
0:00:51 > 0:00:54'that was to claim more lives than any in Britain since the 19th Century.'
0:00:54 > 0:00:57You don't understand, I have a suspected case of smallpox,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59so you please get him out of bed!
0:01:00 > 0:01:02And, cut! Check that, please.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08When the disease arrived in January 1962,
0:01:08 > 0:01:13it was to trigger the biggest health scare in Wales since the Second World War.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16It led to the vaccination of nearly one million people,
0:01:16 > 0:01:21claimed the lives of 19 victims and forced the quarantine of thousands.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26It was a terrible disease to catch,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29you could be scarred for life, you could be blinded.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31An awful disease.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36Because my father, he had smallpox on his diaphragm,
0:01:36 > 0:01:43so for the last five or six days of his life, he hiccupped continually.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Now, on the 50th anniversary of the outbreak,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48for the first time we can tell the full story of how
0:01:48 > 0:01:53this deadly virus brought most of South Wales to a standstill.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55It's a horrible disease to die from. It's very bad.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58It is also a disease which should not have happened
0:01:58 > 0:02:02- in South Wales at that time. - It was real panic situations.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08In fact, thinking back, I felt like a leper.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20- Take one.- Action!
0:02:20 > 0:02:24The Indian Doctor is based on the real-life experiences
0:02:24 > 0:02:27of the doctors who came to work for the NHS from India
0:02:27 > 0:02:28in the 1950s and '60s.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31You've got to help, please don't let him die, Doctor!
0:02:31 > 0:02:33It's probably just a reaction to the vaccine.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Many of them had already experienced smallpox first-hand at home,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40but never expected to meet it again in Wales.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44In those days, smallpox was still present in India.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47We didn't have many large epidemics,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51but there would always be one or two cases here and there.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Occasionally, there would be a small epidemic in one particular village.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59So even before I entered medical school, I knew smallpox was there,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03there was always a lot of publicity to get people vaccinated,
0:03:03 > 0:03:06make sure your child was vaccinated, that sort of thing.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Though there had been no significant outbreak in Britain
0:03:11 > 0:03:13since the beginning of the century,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16smallpox was still a disease without a cure.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Government information films from the time were keen
0:03:19 > 0:03:22to remind people of its potential threat to public health.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Well, let's have it.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27It's smallpox, I'm afraid.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Smallpox? But that's impossible!
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Now, I'd like to show you what smallpox really looks like.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40But I should warn you, it's not a very pleasant sight.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42These are all typical cases.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48'Smallpox was still common, not in Britain, but it was common in the world during this period.'
0:03:48 > 0:03:52And in fact, all the way through the 20th century, Britain had outbreaks
0:03:52 > 0:03:56of imported smallpox, it came quite regularly to these shores.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58The events I'm going to talk about
0:03:58 > 0:04:01happened pretty much in the first half of 1962.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Consultant virologist Diana Westmoreland
0:04:04 > 0:04:06has spent years studying smallpox
0:04:06 > 0:04:08and the threat it has historically presented.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Variola major had a mortality rate of between 40% and 60%.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15And it killed, significantly, everybody.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19It didn't just kill the poor, the disadvantaged -
0:04:19 > 0:04:23it killed the rich and the famous and the leaders of Europe.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Smallpox is a very severe virus illness.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29It's transmitted from person to person
0:04:29 > 0:04:32and it infects every cell, every tissue of the body.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36There are two ways, really, that smallpox can go from one person
0:04:36 > 0:04:39to another, which is direct contact with the patient,
0:04:39 > 0:04:43especially in the early stages of the disease, when they are infected.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48Secondly, the virus is still alive in the scabs of the rash.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Clothing, any article that belonged
0:04:50 > 0:04:53to the patient which had traces of the scabs
0:04:53 > 0:04:55could easily pass on to somebody else.
0:04:57 > 0:04:58So, in autumn 1961,
0:04:58 > 0:05:02when reports first came through of a new epidemic in India
0:05:02 > 0:05:06and Pakistan, the British authorities looked on with trepidation.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10It is, in fact, in the villages of Asia and Africa
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and the Middle East that smallpox is still a constant threat,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16lying in wait beneath the surface of poverty.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Here, deaths from smallpox may cause tragedy and suffering,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21never surprise.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25As the virus threatened to engulf the whole subcontinent, it was clear
0:05:25 > 0:05:28that the authorities were struggling to contain it.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33The governments of Pakistan and India have, for many years, been fighting smallpox by the best means
0:05:33 > 0:05:38available, mass vaccination. But this will take a long time.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Meanwhile, in Britain,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43the Government attempted to limit numbers of arrivals
0:05:43 > 0:05:45by introducing the Commonwealth Immigration Bill,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49stirring up a familiar row.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52What the Commonwealth Immigrants Bill was designed to do was
0:05:52 > 0:05:54to eliminate the right that all British
0:05:54 > 0:05:58and colonial subjects had to reside in the United Kingdom.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02The Bill's effect was immediate - a huge influx of immigrants
0:06:02 > 0:06:07from India and Pakistan, hoping to enter Britain before it became law.
0:06:07 > 0:06:091960, net immigration
0:06:09 > 0:06:13from Pakistan to the United Kingdom, in other words,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16people who came and stayed, was around 2,500.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20By 1961, as the Bill is coming into action, in November,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22it was measured in the 20 thousands.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26The only way that somebody from Pakistan could get to the UK
0:06:26 > 0:06:28was to fly from Karachi.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Well, they could come by boat, but the only airport was in Karachi.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Because of the outbreak, there were requirements that people
0:06:35 > 0:06:38flying into the UK had to have a valid vaccination certificate.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43- REPORTER:- 'Today, every country has its airports. The entry and the exit for men and women of all nations.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46'And that was one of the key features
0:06:46 > 0:06:49'that made this smallpox outbreak different from the ones
0:06:49 > 0:06:52'that had preceded it. Not only were there very large
0:06:52 > 0:06:55'numbers of immigrants coming,'
0:06:55 > 0:06:59they were coming by air, there was no chance of seeing smallpox develop through the journey.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02'And in a world that is becoming smaller and smaller,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05'the virus of this killer disease can travel easier and faster.'
0:07:05 > 0:07:09One of the rather inappropriate things that the ministry said was
0:07:09 > 0:07:12that the airports were not prepared for "steerage class migrants".
0:07:12 > 0:07:15With minor outbreaks in London,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Birmingham and Bradford in the autumn of '61,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21the British Government went a step further,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25ordering that all arrivals from Karachi carry proof of vaccination.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Among these arrivals, in January 1962,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32was the young Pakistani man, Shuka Mia.
0:07:33 > 0:07:34After landing at Heathrow,
0:07:34 > 0:07:37Shuka Mia journeyed first to Birmingham
0:07:37 > 0:07:40and then by train to Cardiff, where he had contacts
0:07:40 > 0:07:43in the city's Pakistani community.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47Wales is a really interesting case in this period.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52Partly because Cardiff had the first mosque in Britain, back in 1919.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56The Pakistani community, they probably all knew each other.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59And they were providing a service that some people really wanted,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01in that they had restaurants.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03But when Shuka Mia eventually arrived
0:08:03 > 0:08:06at the city's Calcutta Restaurant,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10it was clear he was not in any condition to work.
0:08:10 > 0:08:15Poor Shuka Mia is quite ill at this point and he goes to bed, a bedroom upstairs in the restaurant
0:08:15 > 0:08:20and essentially stays there - he's too ill to get out of bed.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24About the day after his arrival in Cardiff, he's seen by
0:08:24 > 0:08:29a general practitioner, who doesn't see a rash, but clearly thinks
0:08:29 > 0:08:33that Shuka Mia is significantly unwell and ought to be in hospital.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36The GP suspects something is wrong and has him
0:08:36 > 0:08:39transferred to the Infectious Disease Hospital in Cardiff,
0:08:39 > 0:08:45where he is then diagnosed by one of the specialist panel in Wales
0:08:45 > 0:08:47to handle cases of potential smallpox.
0:08:47 > 0:08:53In one of the reports, it says that when Shuka Mia was in hospital,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57there was no sign of him having any primary vaccination scar.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Smallpox vaccination leaves a scar.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04It seems to me most probable that Shuka Mia received something
0:09:04 > 0:09:08that had no vaccine in it at all and therefore, he wasn't immunised.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12The Cardiff authorities quickly took steps to vaccinate anyone
0:09:12 > 0:09:15who could possibly have come into contact with the disease.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21I was a staff nurse in Cardiff Royal Infirmary
0:09:21 > 0:09:23and because of the proximity to the docks,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26we were all vaccinated earlier rather than later.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31Alongside their immunisation programme, the city's health authorities acted quickly
0:09:31 > 0:09:33to isolate and combat the threat.
0:09:33 > 0:09:39The people on the train, we would say only about 50% of them
0:09:39 > 0:09:42have so far contacted either the medical officers
0:09:42 > 0:09:43or the general practitioners.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46We would like to see more of them come along.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49They would vaccinate all Shuka Mia's contacts,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52keep an eye on them for 14 days and if they had no more cases,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55they would assume that the outbreak had been stopped.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58And that's essentially what happened.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02By the end of January,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05most of the city's Pakistani community and healthcare workers
0:10:05 > 0:10:08had been vaccinated.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11And Shuka Mia, still the only confirmed smallpox victim,
0:10:11 > 0:10:16was in isolation in Penrhys Hospital above the Rhondda Valley.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20It was a 16-bed, corrugated iron building
0:10:20 > 0:10:23with the usual sort of caretaker's house
0:10:23 > 0:10:28and toilet facilities...
0:10:28 > 0:10:30laundry etc, disinfecting rooms.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Virtually, a building on top of a mountain.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40Literally, it was surrounded by corrugated iron.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43But I think by 1930, the council got a bit wary
0:10:43 > 0:10:46and thought they should have it more secure,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49so they built a seven-foot concrete wall around it,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51which still remains today.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54The authorities could breathe a sigh of relief.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Through their prompt action, the smallpox outbreak had been
0:10:57 > 0:11:02successfully confined to the immigrant community. Or had it?
0:11:02 > 0:11:06In truth, things had already started to go badly wrong.
0:11:06 > 0:11:12On 5th February, a young pregnant woman had gone to her mother's house
0:11:12 > 0:11:16in order that the last stage of her pregnancy would be
0:11:16 > 0:11:19in her mother's care, I suppose,
0:11:19 > 0:11:24and she had become unwell on probably the 6th or 7th February,
0:11:24 > 0:11:30and on 8th February had had a tragic stillbirth in her mother's house.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Her mother and some of her friends
0:11:35 > 0:11:40were assisting at this tragic stillbirth and after the stillbirth,
0:11:40 > 0:11:43this young woman started to bleed uncontrollably.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46An ambulance was called and she was rushed
0:11:46 > 0:11:51- to East Glamorgan General Hospital. - But despite everyone's best efforts,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55before she could be operated on, the woman died.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Her obstetrician, Mr Hodgkinson, was immediately informed.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02They rang my father, he went to the post-mortem the next morning
0:12:02 > 0:12:07and he actually diagnosed this woman by looking at her pupils and
0:12:07 > 0:12:13he said to the pathologist, "I think this is haemorrhagic smallpox."
0:12:13 > 0:12:17And the pathologist said, "No, I don't think it is."
0:12:17 > 0:12:20My father said, "I bow to your superior knowledge,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24- "I've only ever seen it in textbooks."- After the post-mortem,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28the woman's body was released to her grieving family.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Her sister took her body and the body of her stillborn child
0:12:33 > 0:12:36into her own home, into the sister's home,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40where the poor deceased people were in an open coffin
0:12:40 > 0:12:43in the front room, so that the family could come
0:12:43 > 0:12:45and pay their respects.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47But after several days of mourning,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51many of those who'd come into contact with the pregnant woman
0:12:51 > 0:12:54began also to exhibit worrying symptoms.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01The brother of the original lady, he became ill
0:13:01 > 0:13:03and he started to develop a rash.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08On about 20th February, the young lady,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11the original young lady who died of haemorrhage,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15the pregnant woman, her obstetrician became unwell.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19My father was very ill, he had a temperature of 105,
0:13:19 > 0:13:21and could I possibly come home?
0:13:21 > 0:13:26But I went to kiss him, and he said, "No, please don't kiss me.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28"I've got smallpox."
0:13:28 > 0:13:32He said, "Now, you look at these," and showed me the, you know,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35they're umbilicated, they're like chickenpox,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38but they've got a little line across them.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41He said, "You look at this and if you ever see this,
0:13:41 > 0:13:43"you'll know that it's smallpox."
0:13:43 > 0:13:46And so, he wouldn't let me go very close to him.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49All the new victims, including Mr Hodgkinson,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53were sent to join Shuka Mia in Penrhys Hospital.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57By this time, when you have got four or five people very unwell
0:13:57 > 0:14:05with rashes, people are then aware that despite the apparent success
0:14:05 > 0:14:09related to Shuka Mia, something has gone badly wrong in South Wales,
0:14:09 > 0:14:14because they now have four cases of smallpox in Penrhys Hospital.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Penrhys now became the focus for wild speculation
0:14:17 > 0:14:20about how the disease had spread.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26The rumour mill starts and it simply doesn't stop.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29In the press, amongst the officials, there is a great effort
0:14:29 > 0:14:32to control them, but you can't stop people from talking.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36And so, there are rumours about the husband of this lady
0:14:36 > 0:14:40perhaps having a bit on the side,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44with a woman who was known to mingle with the Pakistani community.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Conversely, there are rumours about the lady herself.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50At the same time, there are rumours about the medical profession,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53there are concerns that an ambulance went missing
0:14:53 > 0:14:58and got lost up in the Valleys and that in opening the door to talk to a policeman,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01they may have spread the smallpox. The policeman denies this story
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and the medical authorities say it never happened,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07and yet, that rumour continues to circulate.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09How many contacts have been traced?
0:15:09 > 0:15:12- Oh, hundreds all together. - And you vaccinated...?
0:15:12 > 0:15:15Hundreds, as well, have been vaccinated, yes.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Have you discovered yet where this outbreak came from?
0:15:18 > 0:15:20We haven't, in fact.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23We're working on it of course, but we can't give a definite answer yet.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28As fear spread, public events were cancelled,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32movements were restricted and relations between the Rhondda
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and Cardiff stretched to breaking point.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39The people outside of the Rhondda Valley could see this as being
0:15:39 > 0:15:41a problem of the community in the Rhondda
0:15:41 > 0:15:44and the last thing they wanted was people from the Rhondda
0:15:44 > 0:15:47to be mixing in these other outside communities.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50So, if you like to put it in a brutal sense, the people in Cardiff
0:15:50 > 0:15:55blame the Valleys and the Valleys blame Cardiff for sending the problem in the first place.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57The more people know about the disease,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01- the less likely they are to panic. - What should I tell them?
0:16:01 > 0:16:05Well, the virus spreads where people congregate.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Especially in confined spaces. People have to stay at least six feet apart from each other.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14The drama highlights how, as panic spread, the new doctors from India
0:16:14 > 0:16:17found themselves drawing on their experience to calm the situation.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25Local GPs would ring us and say "Look, you know, what should I do
0:16:25 > 0:16:31"if I see somebody who might have smallpox, or how do I look out for it? What should I do?"
0:16:31 > 0:16:37People with smallpox, in the early part of the disease, breathe out
0:16:37 > 0:16:41quite a lot of smallpox virus and that's very highly infectious.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46And if you think the risk is very high, there are statutory provisions for insisting on quarantine,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49that is to say, locked up in their own homes.
0:16:50 > 0:16:56Quarantining people in their own homes was considered the best way of isolating potential carriers.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Mr Hodgkinson's family was among the first to be confined.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04My sister, my mother and myself were virtually in the house alone.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07I think our GP came to see us.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09But nobody else was able to come in.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12And, you know, we didn't sort of see anybody.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16We could shop so long as it was dropped at the end of the drive,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19but we weren't allowed to pay for anything - they couldn't take our money.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25So nothing was allowed to come past the garden gates.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27It was all dropped outside on the road.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29While some neighbours played their part,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33others weren't quite so generous.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36It became very clear that neighbours within the community were not
0:17:36 > 0:17:39very nice to the families who were affected.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45They reacted with fear and... They wanted them boarded up.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48They were talking about boarding the quarantined people.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53People who were in quarantine, if they as much as stuck their nose, outside the house,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57board them up, "They need to be forced to stay away from us."
0:17:57 > 0:18:01As panic gripped the Valleys, worse news was to come from
0:18:01 > 0:18:06East Glamorgan Hospital where the virus had spread to Ward Three,
0:18:06 > 0:18:07the children's ward.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12A young boy who'd been admitted into East Glamorgan
0:18:12 > 0:18:16for a major operation for kidney cancer,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20he'd had his major operation on 9th February.
0:18:20 > 0:18:26He became unwell on 17th February and he had the flu-like symptoms
0:18:26 > 0:18:30and the fever. He developed a rash.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34And he was in a paediatric ward in East Glamorgan General Hospital
0:18:34 > 0:18:37recovering from his operation.
0:18:37 > 0:18:43There was absolutely no reason at that time to think he'd any contact with anybody with smallpox.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Ward Three was isolated. All the patients there, the children,
0:18:47 > 0:18:52had to remain in isolation. The parents couldn't visit the wards.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56The staff agreed to stay on the ward. They weren't allowed out.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58They were fed on the ward, they slept on the ward
0:18:58 > 0:19:03and they lived on the ward virtually for the whole time of the outbreak.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05The one thing that sticks out in my mind,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07they had a bell outside the ward.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10If they required anything they'd ring the bell
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and a note would be placed, what they required, you know,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17if there were samples to be taken to pathology, or material to go elsewhere.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22I've sent for you because you all volunteered to take on isolation work in an emergency.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Well? I'm sorry...
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Volunteering for isolation within the hospital was one thing.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32But staff living in the community at large were also feeling isolated.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36- I'm afraid it's very short notice, but I want you all ready to leave in an hour.- Yes, matron.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38You would get on the bus into Pontypridd,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41any locals if they're on the bus would be at the back.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45You sat down the front. Nobody bothered with you.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49I'd catch the train - I was living at the time in my parents' home.
0:19:49 > 0:19:55And I... People who normally sat by me on the train wouldn't bother.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58They wouldn't walk from the station with me.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01What really sticks out in my mind from the whole episode, actually.
0:20:01 > 0:20:07I lived in one of the Valleys and caught the bus outside the hospital.
0:20:07 > 0:20:08Erm...
0:20:08 > 0:20:12We used to finish at 10 to 10. The bus would be there at 10 o'clock.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16At 11:15, 11:20, we were still waiting because the buses wouldn't stop.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22The public at large, it was real panic situations.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27In fact, thinking back, I felt like a leper.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31By the time of Mr Hodgkinson's death on 6th March,
0:20:31 > 0:20:36smallpox had brought life in the Valleys to a standstill.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40The crematorium in Pontypridd was next door to what was the grammar school.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44So the grammar school was sent home from school early
0:20:44 > 0:20:46so that no pupils were around about.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52Body came through Pontypridd so Pontypridd was shut off
0:20:52 > 0:20:57so that the ambulance - of course he was in a sort of plywood coffin -
0:20:57 > 0:21:00so the ambulance brought him through Pontypridd.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04So he was cremated in Glyntaff.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10But the vicar couldn't come anywhere near us as a family
0:21:10 > 0:21:13because of the quarantine.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17My father was taken into the crematorium.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Sort of in through the back. Carol and I could see cameramen
0:21:21 > 0:21:24and so we tried to sort of shield my mother from those as well.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Is there feeling in Ferndale that this may not be the end of it?
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Yes, I'm afraid that's the feeling now.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37In my opinion and... People are really getting perturbed about it.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44Well, my wife is within hospital with this Dr Hodge...
0:21:44 > 0:21:46Dr Hodgkinson, who died?
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Hodgkinson and now they are coming to the house now three or four
0:21:49 > 0:21:53times a day to examine her because she's home.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58But up till now they're saying she's free from the smallpox.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00As public anxiety reached new heights,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04the Indian doctors knew there was only one foolproof solution.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06The infection kept on spreading.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10At first they would vaccinate the close contacts of people
0:22:10 > 0:22:13who they thought were in danger of developing the disease.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17But when that didn't control the infection
0:22:17 > 0:22:20and it started to spread, then the next thing of course would be
0:22:20 > 0:22:23mass vaccination of the whole community.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30Now the authorities finally reverted to Plan B,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32and thousands of people across South Wales formed queues
0:22:32 > 0:22:35outside GPs' surgeries and public halls.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41But mass vaccination had its own consequences.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46Once people where being vaccinated in their droves for smallpox
0:22:46 > 0:22:49many of them get what's called vaccinia virus
0:22:49 > 0:22:53and so they get a rash, they don't have smallpox, but they are having
0:22:53 > 0:22:57a rash in relation to the vaccine and that makes it even more difficult
0:22:57 > 0:23:02to discriminate between vaccinia cases and mild cases of smallpox itself.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07Despite the complications and cost of such a large-scale operation,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11mass vaccination seemed to be working. By end of March 1962,
0:23:11 > 0:23:17the authorities once more believed they had finally contained the outbreak.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Everything that moves in the South Wales Valleys has been vaccinated.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24The level of immunity at that point will have been enormous.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29The people who were ill with smallpox where largely getting better.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33And there were less and less new cases as each week went past.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38But the virus had one last, chilling trick to play.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40Despite the isolation of known cases,
0:23:40 > 0:23:44despite the mass vaccination, despite the quarantine,
0:23:44 > 0:23:48there was something in this Welsh outbreak that just wouldn't go away.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53It pops up again. And this is the strange thing about the Welsh outbreak
0:23:53 > 0:23:59is that somehow the smallpox keeps slipping through the net that's working elsewhere.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Only four days after the Rhondda had been given the all clear,
0:24:03 > 0:24:06reports came in of a new outbreak among the elderly patients
0:24:06 > 0:24:10at Glanrhyd psychiatric hospital in Bridgend, more than 15 miles away.
0:24:12 > 0:24:19These people had not been vaccinated during the huge vaccination campaign because they were so frail.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22I keep alluding to the side-effects the vaccine.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25It was felt that these people were in a locked ward,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28they very rarely had visitors, most of them had been there for years,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30if not tens of years.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34And they never went anywhere, they never saw anybody, very frail,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37it was just felt that the risk of them coming to harm
0:24:37 > 0:24:41from vaccination far exceeded the risk of getting smallpox.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45One of the smallpox panel was called to Ward F3
0:24:45 > 0:24:50where they found eight people on the ward with smallpox rashes.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54It was a very, very tense, serious time for a few weeks, actually.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00Of course, as unfortunately the people who had smallpox were dying,
0:25:00 > 0:25:05obviously, that increased the mood of... It was a very, very...
0:25:05 > 0:25:10close-knit community at the psychiatric hospital at that time,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12and everybody felt it.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16This time, the authorities took no chances.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Glanrhyd was effectively quarantined
0:25:18 > 0:25:23and its elderly patients transferred to an isolation hospital nearby,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26but not before the virus had claimed another eight victims.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29And once again, how it had spread remained a mystery.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Although the Rhondda was only 14-15 miles away from Bridgend,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39there weren't any sort of direct train links or bus links,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41had very little to do with the Rhondda.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44If you're in a position of trying to do the detective work,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48how has this infection arisen in this person,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51and how is it being passed from that person,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53clearly one way is that the two people have met
0:25:53 > 0:25:56and that's a very reliable way of causing infection.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00When you're talking about something where it's not so simple,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04you have to think about other ways the disease might be transmitted.
0:26:04 > 0:26:05There are a few possibilities.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10Obviously people who were in from the Rhondda had visitors.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15I would assume that the people on the ward,
0:26:15 > 0:26:20where the smallpox broke out, would have been from the Rhondda, would have had visitors.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25I think it is likely that there was some breach of discipline
0:26:25 > 0:26:28certainly to cause the Glanrhyd outbreak.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31It's quite possible that there was some breach of discipline
0:26:31 > 0:26:36that led to the pregnant lady being infected, or a missed case.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Um... The health authorities never got to the bottom of that
0:26:40 > 0:26:43so to that extent, they were found wanting.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50By the summer of 1962, five months after Shuka Mia's Cardiff arrival,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53the smallpox death toll had reached 19.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56The trail of errors, misjudgements and expense
0:26:56 > 0:26:58combined to form a damning indictment
0:26:58 > 0:27:03of the South Wales' health authorities' inability to contain the virus.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08In looking at the case in Wales and why there were such rumours about the medical profession
0:27:08 > 0:27:11in this particular case, you need to look at the numbers.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15The Welsh outbreak was much, much longer than the outbreak elsewhere.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20And also, of the 62 indigenous cases of smallpox,
0:27:20 > 0:27:2546 of them were in Wales. 19 of the deaths happened in Wales.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28So it's not unreasonable that the Welsh people wanted to examine
0:27:28 > 0:27:32what the health service was doing and was failing to do in the region.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36And of these 46 cases, no less than 27 of them
0:27:36 > 0:27:41were hospital-acquired infections, which is a very chilling statistic whichever way you look at it.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44With the outbreak finally over,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47life in the Valleys slowly returned to normal.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52The World Health Organisation certified the eradication of smallpox worldwide in 1980,
0:27:52 > 0:27:56and where Penrhys Hospital once stood is now a wasteland.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01For those least affected, the 1962 smallpox outbreak is just a dim memory.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05It's as if people would rather forget the disease ever came to Wales.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Diana Westmoreland has a theory as to why this may be.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12There were a lot of able who behaved very heroically
0:28:12 > 0:28:16in volunteering to be in hospitals, care of patients, driving ambulances
0:28:16 > 0:28:20with cases to hospital, to drive the bodies to the morgue.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23A lot of very heroic people, but they're all little people.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26They're all people who are pulling together out of a sense
0:28:26 > 0:28:32of community and a sense of obligation and an ability to help.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37But that doesn't make for a big headlines.
0:28:37 > 0:28:44It doesn't make for a dramatic tale of daring, do and triumph.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48There are no particular heroes except ordinary people.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd