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9
METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD.
Practically the whole of the cases removed to hospital for treatment were taken
into the various hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board. The infectious diseases
which are receivable into the hospitals of the Board are small-pox, scarlet fever, diphtheria,
and enteric fever. Including three cases certified as continued fever, a disease
which frequently turns out to be enteric fever, the number of cases of these diseases
certified was 1,034, and the number removed to hospital was 982. The percentage of
removals during 1902 was 93.1, as compared with 86.3 in 1901, 84.7 in 1900, 82.4 in
1899, 81.4 in 1898, 71.4 in 1897, 65 in 1896, 57 in 1895, and 61 in 1894. The marked
increase observable in the figures for the year 1902 is due to the fact that practically
the whole of the cases of small-pox certified were removed to hospital.
Five instances of recurrence of infectious disease in houses shortly after patients
who had been treated in the fever hospitals of the Board returned home, came under
my notice during the year. In four of these the disease was scarlet fever, and in the
fifth it was small-pox. The latter is referred to further on in this report.
SMALL-POX.
The prevalence of small-pox in Shoreditch from the occurrence of the first case iu
September until the end of the year 1901 is dealt with in my report for that year.
The story of the outbreak has, unfortunately, to be continued in the report for this
year. During the greater part of January, although there was considerable prevalence
of the disease in adjoining boroughs, there were comparatively few eases in Shoreditch.
Two or three occurred in the Holborn Union Workhouse, and a few others were
scattered about the Borough. In most of these, infection was traceable to sources
outside Shoreditch. With the last few days of the month, however, there came an
unwelcomed change. Cases began to be certified in numbers in the neighbourhood of
Nile-street, and it soon became obvious that a serious outbreak had to be faced.
Between January 25th and February 3rd, some sixty-two houses were invaded by
small-pox, the majority during the four days ending January 30th. These houses
were mostly situate in the New Town Registration Sub-district, towards the western
boundary of the Borough, in streets leading from or in the near neighbourhood of
Nile Street, which is one of the busiest market streets in Shoreditch. From
February 8th to 21st, a fresh series of houses was invaded. These houses were not
confined to the neighbourhood of Nile Street to the same extent as those first invaded.
A third teries of houses was invaded from February 24th to March 11th, and the
invasions continued showing more or less a tendency to grouping until the middle of
May, after which the houses invaded were few. After the second series of invasions,
the houses were distributed pretty generally about the Borough, but almost entirely
to the north of Old Street. Towards the end of the outbreak the neighbourhood of
Nile Street became practically free from the disease. In Table VIII (see Appendix) are
shewn the numbers of houses daily invaded by small-pox, and the dates when they
were recognised as invaded.