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prostration, often amounting to inability to stand or move, with
pains in the spine or other parts of the body ; and urging that
persons thus affected should at once go to bed and there remain
until convalescence is established, in order to avoid the danger
of Pneumonia or Bronchitis, which are the chief complications
to be feared as likely to lead to fatal results. The sick are also
advised to resort early to medical aid in every case, for the
determination of the real nature of the disease, and to avoid the
more serious complications previously referred to.
Infectious Disease Notification.
Compulsory notification of certain infectious diseases has
now been in force here for over eleven years, by the Infectious
Disease (Notification) Act, 1889, and later by the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891, which included the provisions contained in
the former Act.
The diseases at present notifiable are Smallpox, Scarlet
Fever, Diphtheria and Membranous Croup, Cholera, Erysipelas
and Typhus, Enteric, Continued, Relapsing and Puerperal
Fevers, and by an order of the Local Government Board,
dated 19th September, 1900, " Bubonic Plague " was also made
notifiable.
Hospital accommodation is provided by the Metropolitan
Asylums Board for Smallpox, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria and
Membranous Croup, Enteric Fever, and the Plague; but for
the other diseases the Union Infirmary is the only accommodation
other than the General Hospitals. This arrangement
necessitates application being made to the Relieving Officer
for the removal of cases of Erysipelas and Puerperal Fever,
and such an arrangement is very unsatisfactory, inasmuch as
the person removed is in a very large measure pauperised. lam
of opinion that either the Metropolitan Asylums Board should
provide hospital accommodation for these cases, or that cases