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65
Mr. Hitchins, the Vaccination Officer, has kindly given me the
following statistics as to the number of vaccinations effected during
the year.
January to June, 1893.
Births. Vaccinations. Insusceptible.
Poplar 985 702 10
Bromley 1368 831 17
July to December, 1893.
Births. Vaccinations. Insusceptible.
Poplar 943 538 2
Bromley 1230 561 4
SCARLET FEVER.
During the last 39 weeks of the year 1893, 552 cases of scarlet
fever were notified in Poplar and 763 in Bromley; 35 deaths were
registered in Poplar and 31 in Bromley, being at the rate of 0.82 per
1000 living in Poplar and 0.58 per 1000 in Bromley. The epidemic
which was general throughout the Metropolis, was also spread over
the whole of my district. The origin of it I could not trace, the
milk being obtained from various sources. I have no doubt that the
disease was kept rife by the want of accommodation at the Asylums'
Board Hospitals, and it will be remembered that this subject was a
matter of discussion in the press. The complaint was also disseminated
by infected children mingling with other children in the
streets during the desquamating stage, and in some instances the
disease was in so slight a form as not to be recognised, and no isolation
measures adopted. Names of urgent cases were forwarded daily to
the Asylums' Board during the period of the want of accommodation,
and in the needy cases waiting to be admitted the friends were
advised to apply to the parish for medical aid and relief. I caused
constant enquiries to be made at those outstanding cases from which
no post cards had been received, so that should the patients be
recovered the premises and bedding might be disinfected. An
enormous amount of work was entailed upon the Sanitary Department