Identified by Sir David Bruce in 1887, Malta fever was characterised by a low mortality rate but was of indefinite duration.
In 1905 Sir Themistocles Zammit infected a goat with the bacteria Micrococcus Melitanensis which then caught Malta fever.
[7] In attempting to settle the matter of who was responsible for the discovery, Bruce (who had served as chairman of the Commission, wrote to The Times newspaper: I saw Dr. Zammit's notes as to two experiments on the effect of feeding goats on materiel containing Micrococcus Melitanensis.
Before proceeding to repeat the feeding experiments on these new goats he examined their blood, as a matter of routine, and much to his surprise, found that five out of the six gave a Malta fever reaction.
[8]Horrocks afterwards served as sanitary officer at the British colony of Gibraltar, where he noted that the incidence of Malta fever practically disappeared with the removal of Maltese goats from that place.
[10] In 1915, Horrocks was honoured by becoming an Honorary Surgeon to King George V, commencing 6 November 1914,[11] holding the appointment until 26 December 1917.
This device used sand filtration and chlorine sterilisation plants to provide a portable means of decontaminating water supplies.