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32
Consideration of the facts stated in the foregoing
histories,—regard being had to the contiguity of the houses;
to the relationship of some of the people; the close intimacy
of all of them; and the fact that the several families were
customers at James K.'s shop—left no doubt in my mind
that the cases numbered 2 to 10 contracted the disease,
directly or indirectly, from Maud K. (case 1). That many
of the remaining cases, (Nos. 11 to 65), were infected
at the shop, or by contact with the inmates of the
three Portobello Road houses, is at the least highly probable.
In a considerable number of instances the mode of transmission
of infection was clearly made out, and was described
in the histories given in my eleventh and twelfth
monthly reports, for the two four-weekly periods ended
respectively, November 4th and December 2nd. One group
of cases which came to my knowledge towards the close of the
endemic, is too interesting to be omitted here, the first of five
sufferers having contracted the disease from the K. family
(cases 1 and 2). The facts, as reported in my eleventh
monthly report, were as follows:—
Cases 56 to 60.—Luke G., aged 40, is a milkman. He had assisted
James K. (case 2) who died of confluent small-pox, at 412, Portobello
Road, October 23rd. When James K.'s business was stopped, Luke G.
obtained milk and served the various customers on the usual round. He
felt unwell 011 or about November 4th, and spots having appeared on his
face, etc., he saw a doctor on the 8th. The doctor, who saw the patient
once only, did not recognise small-pox. The man continued at his work
uninterruptedly. On or about the 18th November, Emily G., aged 31
(case 57) Luke's wife, began to ail with the same symptoms, followed by a
rash ; but she did not see a doctor. On December 7th, three of their
children (cases 58, 59, and 60) were notified as suffering from small-pox,
two of them being twins aged 3 months, the other being three years old.
With the mother, who was still infective, they were removed the same day
to hospital, where the twins died and the boy scarcely escaped with his life.
All of these children were unvaccinated. There were three other children
in the family who had been vaccinated in infancy, and escaped.
With respect to these five cases, it would seem impossible
that the father and mother should not have suspected the