View report page

63
ZYMOTIC DISEASES.
The diseases comprising the principal Zymotic group are:—Smallpox,
measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria (including membranous croup)
whooping cough, fever (including typhus, typhoid or enteric, simple
continued and ill-defined fevers), and diarrhoea (including gastro,
enteric and intestinal catarrh). The annual death rate from this
group of diseases per 1000 living was 3.63 in Poplar, and 4.69 in
Bromley. See Tables I. and II. on page 85.
A letter was received from the Ambulance Committee of the
Metropolitan Asylums' Board, intimating that with the "view of
"facilitating the prompt removal of patients and of avoiding every
"possible delay in the preliminaries, instructions have been given to
"their ambulance officials to accept as a medical certificate a copy
"of the notification certificate endorsed by the Sanitary Authority."
This I find is of great use in effecting the speedy removal and isolation
of those patients suffering with the Zymotic diseases admissible into
the Asylums' Board hospitals. Five cases of scarlet fever and one of
typhoid fever were connected with milk shops in Bromley. The
fact was communicated immediately to the County Council, and the
businesses were discontinued until after the premises and utensils
had been disinfected, either at the recovery or upon the removal of
the patients.
SMALL POX.
The number of cases of small-pox notified during the last threequarters
of the year 1893, were 35 in Poplar and 111 in Bromley.
Six deaths from this disease were registered in Poplar and five in
Bromley, being 0.14 per 1000 living in Poplar, and 0.09 per 1000
in Bromley. The measures I adopted for stamping out this fearful
disease were as follow:—As soon as possible after the notification was
received, the disinfector—who at my suggestion had been provided
with a tricycle—took for signature the necessary removal form to
the medical man notifying, and then he rode on and left at the
infected house the certificate, which was given to the nurse in charge