But its organization quickly became very efficient and made Malta one of the safest ports in the Mediterranean. Henceforth, the Maltese non-contagion license, issued after quarantine controlled by the health authorities is one of the most respected. It allows ships to then be able to land directly in a port in Western Europe. The organization being well established and the port well stocked, the sanitary stopover in Malta will be often used and will participate in the Maltese economic development. The third epidemic began in September 1655 in a house near the "Porta Maggiore" (today the "Victoria Gate") near a place of anchoring of ships coming from the Levant. The owner is said to have had contact with a crew member of an infected vessel, and to have transmitted the disease to his sister inhabiting Żejtun. When the disease spreads to other family members, the authorities immediately take quarantine measures by isolating people in contact with the lazaretto. The epidemic was quickly brought under control with around a hundred patients, 52 of whom survived thanks to effective medical care. The assessment is of fifty victims. This fourth epidemic of unknown origin is the deadliest known in Malta. It kills persons, about a quarter of the Maltese population, and even more in the Grand Harbour area, many of which are knights. The help of French doctors and surgeons from Marseille will prove very useful. This epidemic, the first under British administration, has been carried by ship since Alexandria. The disease first spreads slowly to Valletta before ravaging the countryside, and in particular the cities of Ħaż-Żebbuġ and Qormi where about 15% of their inhabitants die. Late draconian measures will eventually put an end to the scourge, which briefly reaches Gozo at the end of the epidemic. Between April 1813 and September 1814, the epidemic killed 4668 of a Maltese population estimated at about 100,000, with a total mortality of 4 to 6%. A small epidemic of plague infected 8 dockers at the Grand Harbor in 1917, with 4 deaths between 2 March and 2 April 1917. The disease stems from the opening of a box from Mesopotamia, where an epidemic raged. A plague began in 1936 in Qormi with the Grech family, a family of bakers from Raffaella Street. The grandfather first presented buboes and a high fever before dying on April 8. It was then the turn of her 42-year-old son on April 13.