View report page

24
Smallpox.—Three cases of this disease occurred among residents in
the City. The first case was in the person of a woman who had been an
in-patient of a hospital for 5 weeks; and the other two cases were both
members of a family who had been infected by a missed case in the same
household. This disease still continues to be of the mild type which has
been prevalent in England and Wales for the past 2 or 3 years, and although
Westminster may count itself fortunate in having so few cases among its
inhabitants, the work in connection with the supervision of contacts of
smallpox still continues to demand its share of attention from the staff
of the department. The names of 206 passengers who had been in contact
with cases of smallpox contracted abroad were received from the Port
Sanitary Authorities.
The administration of Smallpox in London has figured very prominently
in the proceedings of the sanitary authorities throughout the
County during the year. Difficulties were experienced in certain boroughs
in applying strict methods of prevention owing to the mild nature of the
disease. The Ministry issued a special circular suggesting that chickenpox
should be made notifiable while these mild smallpox cases were
prevalent. Accordingly in Westminster chicken-pox has been notifiable
since March, 1930. The vaccination of non-resident contacts was also
suggested. This also has been carried out. Considerable discussion has
taken place with the L.C.C. (the hospital authority) as to admission to
the observation hospital at Rotherhithe of doubtful cases, of mothers
suffering from small-pox with suckling infants and infants with smallpox
being admitted with their mothers who were not suffering. These and
many other problems connected with the control of this mild form of
smallpox were happily progressing towards solution at the end of the
year.
Vaccination.—The Vaccination Officer informs me that the following
number of persons were vaccinated by the Public Vaccinators during the
year:—
Primary 567
Secondary 161
These figures do not include vaccinations and re-vaccinations done
by private practitioners. No vaccination was done by the Medical
Officer of Health under the Public Health (Smallpox Protection) Regulations,
1917.