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Other two oases were of enteric or typhoid fever. The first case of fever (the
widow's son, aged 21, occupant of the ground floor), was notified on January
12th. This man had been admitted to the Infirmary on the 9th. The second
notification, received on the 14th, was that of a girl, aged 12—a child of the
lodger of the occupier of the first floor back room, but who, as I was informed
had been much (and for some nights bud slept) in the front room on the
ground floor : she had been admitted to the Infirmary on the 11th. The
third case to be notified (January 16th) was that of the step-son (aged 21) of
the widow, occupant of the ground floor. This patient had been away from
the house for a few days, but, falling ill, he had returned home, and was
removed to hospital by the district Medical Officer on the 16th. The last
case notified (on Jannary 27th), was that of the widow's daughter, aged 7.who
had been removed to the Infirmary, suffering from eczema, on the 15th.
The elder occupant of the slip room had suffered from boils, and, in October
the male occupiers of the first-floor front and back rooms, were admitted to
the Infirmary suffering from bronchitis and debility, respectively. The house
wherein all this sickness originated, was visited by the Sanitary Inspector on
January 11th, and the first step taken was the removal of the five or six
lodgers of the occupier of the first floor back room. On full consideration of
the facts of the case, I came to the conclusion that it would be desirable to
close the house for a time, and I made arrangements whereby the several
families were provided with other accommodation. Much of the bedding was
filthy, and quite unsuitable for disinfection ; I, therefore, had it removed and
destroyed. The remaining bedding and other articles were disinfected. The
walls of the several rooms were not specially dirty, and, in ordinary circumstances,
probably, would not have needed attention until the period
(between April and August), when cleansing and whitewashing would have
been required by the regulations for houses let in lodgings or occupied by
members of more than one family. But the ceilings of the ground and first
floors were much stained with offensive matters spilled in the overhead
rooms. The house having been emptied, the best course, obviously, was to
have the whole of it disinfected, and thoroughly cleansed by scraping, washing,
and colour-washing, and this was done. The inmates were lodged-out
for nearly a fortnight, and on again occupying their accustomed rooms, they
were provided with clean and wholesome bedding in lieu of that which had
been destroyed. The sanitary arrangements of the house were fairly good,
having been partially reconstructed. An access chamber to the drain had
been provided at the rear of the house, and the drain was ventilated, but it
was not trapped from the sewer in front."
I may add that I did not attribute the sickness from
which so many of the inmates of this house had suffered to
defective drainage, but rather to the insanitary conditions in
which they had lived. The atmosphere of the house was fetid