Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Report upon the public health and sanitary condition of the Parish of St. Mary, Battersea during the year1896
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(iv.) That the local authority should be empowered to
require the temporary closing of any common lodginghouse
in which Small-Pox has occurred.
(v.) That the local authority shall have power to offer free
lodgings to any inmate of a common lodging-house or
casual ward who may reasonably be suspected of being
liable to convey Small-Pox.
(vi.) That the Sanitary Authority should give notice to all
adjoining Sanitary Authorities of the occurrence of
Small-Pox in common lodging-houses or casual wards.
(vii.) That where the disease occurs the Public Vaccinator
or the Medical Officer of Health should attend and
vaccinate the inmates of such lodging-houses or wards,
except such as should be unwilling to submit themselves
to the operation.
In connection with the subject with which we have been
dealing we may advert to the suggestion that the vaccination and
the Sanitary Authority should in all cases be identical. It has
been pointed out that whilst the isolation of patients in hospitals
and otherwise is provided for by the Sanitary Authority the
extent of the provision requsite to deal with an outbreak of an
epidemic of Small-Pox may depend upon the degree in which the
vaccination laws have been enforced. More hospital accommodation
may be required where vaccination has been neglected
than where the vaccination laws have been complied with. It is
contended that sanitation and vaccination, concerning as they
both do the health of the people, should be under the jurisdiction
of a single authority, and that the Sanitary Authority is the
appropriate one for that purpose. Indeed, the advantage of
placing in the same hands the supervision of vaccination and of
the other measures designed to prevent the spread of disease are
so great and obvious that the proposal to do so deserves most
serious consideration.