View report page

25
2. The prompt recognition of any cases of smallpox and
their early isolation to hospital.
3. The state of vaccination of the community. The following
extract from the Report of the Royal Commission on
Vaccination, which for seven years laboriously considered in
every conceivable detail, the effects of vaccination upon
smallpox, should not be forgotten even in times of apparent
immunity: "It does appear to us impossible to resist the
"conclusion that vaccination has a protective effect in relation
"to smallpox. The beneficial effects of vaccination
"are most experienced by those in whose case it has been most
"thorough. We can see nothing to warrant the conclusion
"that in this country vaccination might safely be abandoned
"and replaced by a system of isolation." These are important
words to bear in mind at a time when there are, as I regret to
learn, a large number of unvaccinated children in this District.
4. General sanitation and freedom from overcrowding.
Scarlet Fever—The total number of notifications received during
the year for Scarlet Fever was 131, 81 of these cases occurring in
the latter half of the year. No deaths resulted in the seven cases
retained at home, and the attacks, speaking generally, were mild.
Ten deaths occurred amongst the 124 cases removed to hospital,
which was one of the highest proportions of fatality occurring in
London. The Scarlet Fever death-rate for the parish is therefore
0.16 per 1000, as compared with o.o8 for London.