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every precaution was taken as regards isolation, disinfection, etc.,
and the houses were examined by the Sanitary Inspectors; where
there was found to be children in the house attending school,
notices were sent on to the various School Authorities notifying
them of the existence of the disease; the drainage also of every
house was tested with the smoke test and out of the 356, 96
were found to be defective; in all of these notices were served
on the owners, and the drains made sound under the direct
superintendence of the Sanitary Inspectors.
CHOLERA.
We have escaped another year without any ravages being
made by this much dreaded disease. It shewed itself in the
middle of the year at various seaports in the North of England,
where a number of fatal cases occurred; and in London a number
of suspicious cases were notified to the various Authorities
but only four of them were found to be Cholera, all of which
died; one in Westminster, one in Fulham, one in Lambeth, one
in Southwark. In August we had a number of deaths recorded
from Choleraic Diarrhœa in our district, but after investigating
them I found that in all the cases their nomenclature would
have been more accurate if the Choleraic had been left out.
In June last we received a circular letter from the Local
Government Board the substance of which was to be informed
if we were prepared to take the necessary steps to combat with
the disease should an epidemic break out in our district, and my
reply to that was "that the action taken last year by the Vestry
together with what could be taken at a very short notice would
enable us to adopt all necessary precautions and to carry out
the regulations of the Board without delay."
The Asylums Board made provision for a large number of
cases both at their own Hospitals and other Institutions in the
Metropolis should the necessity occur, and arranged to have
litters deposited, one or more in every district for the removal
of cases, but happily we did not require them. I feel sure that
should we in the near future find Cholera in our midst, the inhabitants
of every district in London are all so alive to the
necessity of taking active measures to battle with the disease
that we, the Sanitary Officers would be able to enlist their cooperation,
which would be a great help in dealing with a
difficult and dangerous problem.