London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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London County Council 1903

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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surgeon and a policeman were, however, numbered among the sufferers. Several laundry
workers, ironers, etc., were among those notified, as were also a dealer in second-hand clothes,
a rag and bone sorter, a carriage examiner, and a scrubber at an infirmary ; while a group of
cases was connected apparently with a pawnbroker's shop. At least three hairdressers were
attacked, in one instance the disease was detected by a medical man whom the barber was in the
act of shaving. As in 1902, waiters and waitresses, and also persons associated with public-houses,
figure among tke patients, a public-house manager and at least two potmen being attacked.
The only considerable outbreak in a common lodging-house occurred in October, at 8,
Great Charlotte-street. A lodger there developed a smallpox rash, on 4th October, and tbe smallpox
rash became developed in persons who were probably infected by this man on 18th October in
five cases, on the following day in one case, on the 20th in six cases, on the 21st in one case,
on the 22nd in one case, on the 23rd in two cases, and on the 24th in one case; the majority of these
persons were living in or had lived at the particular common lodging-house. Dr. Millson, the
medical officer of health of Southwark, by means of a gratuity of 2s. 6d. to each lodger, persuaded
60 of tbe 80 residents in the house to be vaccinated. Tbe Council caused early morning medical
inspection to be made of the inmates of this and other common lodging-houses in Southwark. The
services of Mr. Bingham were secured for this purpose on 23rd October, and on the 25th he found
a man suffering from smallpox at 8, Great Charlotte street, and notified the case. No further
cases occurred among common lodging-house residents, though two further cases in which the
rash appeared on 4th and 5th November were notified in Southwark, and these persons may have
been infected from the house in question. A lodger at another common lodging-bouse in Westminster
Bridge-road was also probably infected from the same source. At a later date a man
who had been residing at 6, Betterton-street, Holborn, a common lodging-house, developed
smallpox at 33, Great Peter-street, Westminster, and infected a fellow lodger in that house; this
latter case was detected in the course of inspection by Mr. Bingham and at once removed to
hospital.
Many of the annual reports give particulars of the cases of smallpox which occurred in
the districts to which they relate. The following are the more important events mentioned—
Paddington.—Four cases in the borough; one was a tramp in a common lodging-house in
Kilburn-lane.
Kensington.—Six cases occurred, all in common lodging-bouses; four of these and another
outside London are believed to have been due to infection from the inmate of a common lodginghouse
in Crescent-street, whose disease was not recognised.
Fulham.—Ten cases occurred; one was a man who contracted the disease while tramping
in Kent, and who on return home infected three members of his family; another was infected
while engaged in the construction of a temporary smallpox hospital at Durham.
Chelsea.—Six cases occurred; one bad worked at the above-mentioned hospital.
Westminster.-—Forty-five cases occurred in the borough. An unvaccinated child whose
illness had been mistaken for chicken-pox gave rise to several cases, wbile other cases occurred
in a pawnbroker's shop, at which the child's mother was known as a customer, although she
denied having entered the shop. A group of 18 cases were found to have been due directly or
indirectly to a bargeman who had been at a wharf adjoining Millbank.
Hampstead.—One case occurred in the person of an Italian, the disease being contracted
abroad.
St. Pancras.—Twenty-six cases occurred in the borough. The earliest cases of the disease
were a group of three due to infection from a child whose illness was mistaken for chicken-pox.
Two cases occurred among persons engaged in a laundry to wbich the linen from an antecedent
case of smallpox had been sent.
Finsbury.—One case occurred in the borough, the inmate of a common lodging-house.
Holborn.—One case occurred in the borough, a man who had tramped from Manchester, and
who was removed from the casual ward.
Shoreditch.—One case occurred, a man in the Holborn Union Workhouse, who had been
admitted from Holborn.
Stepney.—Eighteen cases occurred in the borough, three of which were removed from
common lodging-houses. A case occurred in the St. George's Workhouse. The woman who
washed his clothing was infected, and subsequently another woman was infected by her. One
other case occurred in the workhouse a fortnight after the first.
Poplar.—Twenty-five cases were notified in the borough, but others occurred which had
not been notified. A man infected in Bath, and who was walking about until his illness was
recognised, gave rise to a considerable group of cases in the neighbourhood, and attacks of
smallpox traceable to this source occurred in other districts.
Southwark.—Forty cases occurred in the borough, fifteen of which were in a common
lodging-house in Great Charlotte-street due to a drapers' assistant suffering from the disease who
had been lodging in the house.
Lambeth.—Seventy-two cases occurred in the borough, twenty-five of which occurred in
Rowton House, Vauxhall. Account of other small groups of cases is given in the report.
Battersea.—Thirty-three cases occurred in the borough. Most of the cases are included in
eight groups.
Wandsworth.—Twenty-four cases occurred in the borough, fourteen of these were primary
cases, or first cases in houses, and all but one were infected in other parts of London. Ten cases
were subsequent to other known cases, four of these being due to unrecognised cases.