Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Report on the public health of 1902
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of age small-pox was 33 times more fatal in unvaccinated persons
than vaccinated persons. Even the experience of the Staff of the
Public Health Department points in the same direction. Twentytwo
men came into direct personal contact with small-pox, some
of us being rarely out of infection for twelve months, yet small-pox
only picked out the three men who had declined re-vaccination,
although all worked under exactly the same conditions.*
4. Mortality.—Forty of the small-pox patients died, yielding
a mortality percentage on the total cases of 14.5 and a death
rate of 0.39 per 1000. The following are the particulars of each
death in Finsbury :—
In 1902 there were in the whole of London 1,314 deaths due to
small-pox which yields a death rate of 0.28 per 1000. In 1901
there were 247 deaths which gave a mortality per centage of 24.2.
0 The recent experience of Glasgow is further evidence in support of
re-vaccination as protective against small-pox. The population of persons
above 5 years of age is 675,887. During 1901 and 1902, 404,855 persons were
re-vaccinated. During the same period there was an epidemic of small-pox
involving 1,858 persons, and distributed in every part of the City and among all
classes and conditions of persons. Not a single one of those cases occurred
amongst the 404,855 people who had been re-vaccinated. The epidemic
limited itself absolutely to the 271,032 persons who had not been re-vaccinated.