View report page

21
about the same date. On the 12th of May the groom, a youth of 18, developed the same disorder. On
the 16th of May, a man who had communication with the house some time or other, the exact date not
clear, and who had shaken or beaten a stair carpet, was sent also to hospital as smallpox."
St. Pancras.—Two cases of smallpox were notified, the one in the Gray's-inn-lane, the other in
the Kentish-town sub-districts.
The report of the medical officer of health of St. Martin-in-the-Fields refers to the attack by
smallpox of a tailor, formerly resident in that district, who had for two months before his attack been
an inmate of the Central Sick Asylum, Cleveland-street, St. Pancras. He states that he "learnt that
a man about that time (February) had been admitted into the Cleveland-street Asylum suffering
from supposed erysipelas, which later on proved to be smallpox; this man infected several inmates of
the asylum along with the case notified to me."
Islington.—Three cases of smallpox were notified in different houses. One of these cases, a
child aged one year, died. The Registrar-General includes the case among those concerning whose
condition as to vaccination there was no statement.
Stoke Newington.—The medical officer of health writes—
A case of smallpox was notified early in the year. The patient was a young seamstress, who made
up some sleeves while in bed, suffering from what was thought to be a bad bilious attack. These sleeves
were subsequently passed on to another person to fit and sew into bodices three days before the supposed
bilious attack was diagnosed as smallpox. In the family (to which these sleeves were sent, was a boy who,
unlike its other three members, had never been vaccinated. He alone caught the complaint and suffered
from a severe attack. * * * It was thought probable that the first case contracted the disease in
Islington, as there were three cases in a neighbourhood in which she sometimes visited, but it was
quite impossible to trace the origin of the infection with any precision.
Hackney.—Four persons were certified to be suffering from smallpox. In three cases the
disease proved to be chicken-pox. The case of smallpox occurred in the person of a young woman
whose condition as to vaccination and the source of whose infection were unknown.
St. Giles.—Four persons were certified to be suffering from smallpox, in one case the disease
proved to be chicken-pox, the other three were adults, living in one private lodging-house.
St. Ma/rtin-in-the-Fields.—-A tailor, previously resident in this district, and suffering from
phthisis, was removed to the Central Sick Asylum, Cleveland-street, St. Pancras, where, two months
after his admission, he contracted smallpox. This patient died in the Castalia. Another case occurred in
Long-acre, was removed to hospital, and recovered. (See also "Strand.")
Strand.—The medical officer of health writes as follows—
A series of eight cases occurred in the month of February. A man living in a common lodginghouse
in Vere-street, employed in carrying an advertisement board in Bond-street, was sent to the
Central Sick Asylum in Cleveland-street, suffering from what was thought to be erysipelas; the complaint
proved to be smallpox, and five persons belonging to this district who were inmates of the ward
to which he was admitted subsequently developed the same. The lodging-house where he had been
staying for some time had 40 other lodgers, five of whom slept in the same room with him. All refused
to be re-vaccinated, and two took the disease, one dying therefrom. Fortunately the men at this house
were regular lodgers; had they been of the tramp class the disease might readily have been carried to
other parts of London, and even into the country. The sanitary authority possesses no power whereby these
men could have been detained and isolated during the period that smallpox is latent in the system. In
order to prevent any of the men going to other lodgings while the rooms were being disinfected, those
that had to be removed were accommodated at the Board's shelter. The house was visited morning and
evening, and the men examined for any suspicious symptoms. The officers of the County Council who
control common lodging-houses, rendered every assistance, with the result that none of the men left, and
the disease was confined to the one house in the district, and the Strand Guardians also co-operated by
promptly isolating any suspicious case in one of their wards at Bear-yard.
Clerkenwell.—A child previously resident in Holborn was, an hour after removal with its parents
to Clerkenwell, taken to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The child died in course of transit. An inquest
was held and a verdict returned of "death from natural causes, probably smallpox." The house
physician of the hospital stated that the appearances were not sufficiently clear to enable him to give
a definite opinion. "Enquiries discovered no likely source of smallpox infection, but measles existed
in the block of dwellings in Holborn from which the child had just been removed."
City.—The report of the medical officer of health contains tables showing that two cases of
smallpox were notified and that there were two deaths from this disease.
Shoreditch.—The medical officer of health thus writes—
One case of this dangerous malady was notified in Shoreditch, during the year. On May 16th a
young man, aged 22, residing at a house in Shepherdess-walk, where he was a lodger, was certified to
be suffering from smallpox, and removed to the ship Castalia. He was a carpet-planner by trade and
worked for a firm in Stanhope-street. Euston-road. From inquiries made he appears to have beaten
carpets belonging to a house in the West-End where some cases of illness had occurred, which were
subsequently found to be cases of smallpox. This patient had been vaccinated in infancy. The case
was one of the hcemorrhagic variety and terminated fatally in a few days.
Bethnal-green.—In this district two persons were erroneously certified to be suffering from
smallpox, their malady being chicken-pox. The medical officer of health expresses the opinion that
the requirement of notification should extend to chicken-pox, on account of the difficulty in diagnosis
felt by inexperienced practitioners.
St. George-in-the-East.—A case of chicken-pox was erroneously certified to be smallpox.
Poplar (north district).—Two cases of smallpox occurred in one house and four in another.
(south district)—Three cases of smallpox occurred, one admitted into the sick asylum from Greenwich
Hospital, and two who were sailors in the Scandinavian Sailors' Home.
St. Mary, Newington.—No case of true smallpox is known to have occurred, but two or three
certificates were received of cases which were subsequently found not to be smallpox.