 After the death of one patient there were 74 patients at the new lazaret by 6 February 1940; 41 male and 33 female.In March 1940 O'Brien inferred that the two deaths to that date were due to the food issue, and by 12 December 1940 a total of 14 lazaret patients had died that calendar year.It has been claimed that 40 former Peel Island patients died in the first five years of the Fantome Island Lazaret, from Tuberculosis.