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42
Medical Officers of Health Annual Report.
The first case was notified on August 14th. The patient,
a woman, aged 14, living in Stewart's Road, was
taken ill, August 9th. Her husband was a coffee-stall
keeper out of work ; she herself was a rubber at Turkish
baths. It was thought probable that she had contracted
the disease at her work. She died from small pox at
the hospital ship. The other occupants of the house
were re-vaccinated and none of them contracted the
disease.
The next case was reported on September 4th, at
Knutsford Street, and was that of a young man, aged 21,
employed on the railway. On visiting the house I found
a sister of the patient, aged 19, recovering from an attack
of modified small pox which she developed apparently
on the same date, viz. August 28th. A lodger in the
house, aged 20, had been suffering evidently from small
pox, of which he still showed the signs, and which had
developed on August 16th. He no doubt infected the
two other cases; how he contracted it was not clear; he
was a friend of the woman who was removed on August
14th from Stewart's Road, but stated he had not seen her
lately. The notified case was removed to hospital and
the others isolated at home till danger of infection had
passed. No extension from these cases occurred. The
two modified cases were not recognised as such by the
doctor who had seen them, and this was a source of danger
to the community.
Another case was reported, on October 19th, in Gauden
Road. The patient, a young man, aged 20, was a
clerk at a newspaper office; he had been in the habit of
going to public swimming baths and thought he had
caught small pox in that way, having, he said, been near
a bather with spots on his person. He was removed to
hospital and the usual precautions were taken,