View report page

11
with the ground floor shop, another with the mantle room on the first floor,
and the remaining to two fitting rooms on the first floor. Attached to the
workroom, but cut off by the staircase, was a lavatory; the accommodation
and ventilation of which were ample.
On testing the soil pipes here they were found to be sound; but a
leakage was revealed in the basement of the building. The lavatory wastes
were connected with the drain by the intervention of a D trap.
The water for drinking and flushing the was was drawn from the same
cistern without the intervention of a flushing-box.
Cause of the outbreak.—As stated above, exclusive of L. J., the number
of inflamed or sore throats amongst the work girls was twenty-two. Of these,
four were subsequently notified as cases of diphtheria; and two others, when
examined later on, presented all the throat appearances of a previous attack
of diphtheria. As to the remainder, evidence is wanting that these were all
diphtheritic in character, but during every prevalence of diphtheria, there
is always a large number of cases of sore throat—their characters varying
from those of simple sore-throat, up to those of an undoubted diphtheritic
type. Such cases are all infectious, and are competent to give rise to wellmarked
diphtheria in susceptible persons. So for the purposes of this report,
the cases of diphtheria and sore throat must be taken together, in enquiring
as to the source of infection.
In the first place we naturally turn to see if any sanitary defect is
present, competent to give rise to such a disease. As stated previously, a
defect was found in the soil pipe, at its junction with the drain in the basement.
If this were the cause, we should certainly expect those persons
employed nearest and most exposed to this cause to be the most affected; but
no one employed in the basement had sore throat: only one of the shop
assistants on the ground floor had been ill, and only two on the first floor;
therefore this, as a cause, must be dismissed. Another sanitary defect was
the direct connection of the w.c.'s with the cisterns, which supplied the
drinking water. But this arrangement existed all over the establishment.
Not only were the work-girls (amongst whom was nearly the whole of the
illness) supplied with this drinking water, but also all the shop assistants.
If impure water were the cause, the employes in different parts of the
establishment would have been equally effected. Moreover, the work-girls
took less of this water than most of the shop assistants, for a large number of
the latter lived in the establishment and took no other water; but, as we have
seen, these were not appreciably affected. Lastly, some of the girls worst
affected did not drink any of the water.
The remaining and last sanitary defect was the existence of a D trap in
the course of the lavatory waste pipe, cutting the pipe off from the housedrain.
It would be more exact to say this arrangement was not "up to date"
—for unless the water were frequently renewed, the seal might be broken or
the soapy water stagnate, and so give rise to an evil odour; but at the time
of my visit neither of these events had happened.
Moreover, when we consider that, on an average, forty persons use these
lavatory basins per diem, it would be a most unusual event for the trap to be
either unsealed or the water offensive.