View report page

15
SMALLPOX.
Towards the end of the year the City was associated with a case of Smallpox which
was the subject of considerable publicity at the time. The circumstances are as
follows:-
At mid-day on Saturday, the 8th September, information was received at my
office from the Ministry of Health to the effect that a patient who had been staying
at a West End Hotel and whose only known address was situate within the City,
was believed to be suffering from Smallpox. Later I was informed that a case of
smallpox had occurred in the person of a domestic servant working at the same
hotel, and that it had been ascertained on enquiry that she had attended the
patient referred to while she was lying ill at the hotel suffering from "spots."
Considerable difficulty was experienced in tracing the City case, but on the
following Monday morning the correct address was ascertained and the necessary
information communicated to the Medical Officer of Health of the district concerned.
He immediately visited, with the result that four people suspected to be suffering
from smallpox were later removed from the house. The diagnosis was confirmed in
respect of two and the other two were, after detention for some days, discharged
as not suffering from smallpox.
Throughout the year there have been no cases of smallpox amongst City residents.
ISOLATION ACCOMMODATION —6, BRIDGEWATER SQUARE.
Suitable accommodation for the isolation and observation of smallpox contacts
is provided by the Corporation at 6, Bridgewater Square. Formal notice to
vacate the premises has been received and they are now held on a monthly tenancy.
It is hoped that it will be possible, shortly, to obtain more permanent provision.
NURSING OF MEASLES, &c.
The Corporation has approved of the expenditure of £25 per annum in respect
of the nursing of complicated cases of Measles, Encephalitis Lethargica and Cerebrospinal
Fever, and have also agreed to expend the sum of £30 on provision of medical
assistance and nursing attendance in necessitous cases of Influenza. No action was
necessary under this heading during 1923.
TUBERCULOSIS.
TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY.— The Tuberculosis Dispensary has been
open throughout the year for the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis of various
types on Tuesdays and Fridays from 12-30 to 3-30; on Mondays from 5-0 to 7-30 ;
and on Thursdays from 6-0 to 7-30. In addition, owing to the great increase in
the number of new cases during the past two years, a new session on Wednesdays,
11-30to 1-30, has more recently been started. In all 215 sessions have been held, and
in addition the Tuberculosis Officer has visited cases at their homes when necessary.
NEW PATIENTS.- The number of new patients examined was 378 as compared
with 351* last year.

♦This figure included 114 patients attending on Jan. 1st, 1922, who had not been diagnosed or notified as Tuberculous.