View report page

81
During the early part of the year until the end of the month of
May, typhoid fever had been very low, but in the first week in June
the notifications began to rise until in the third week 14 cases were
notified. In the subsequent weeks, cases were not so prevalent. But
in the first week in August another rise in the notifications took place,
which reached in the last three weeks of August 15, 16, 16, the total
in the three weeks being 47. After this the notifications diminished
gradually to the end of the year, the decline being checked only by
one rise in the first week in October. This last rise I have not been
able to assign to any particular medium of infection, but the excess
from the second week in June to the last week in August has formed
a subject of a special report to the Public Health Committee of the
Borough. This report will be found in the appendix.
The Public Health Committee submitted the following report on
this subject to the Borough Council.
"Your Committee have received a report from the Medical Officer of
Health for the Borough on an excess of enteric fever which occurred
in the Borough during the months of June, July and August of this
year, a period when the prevalence of this disease is usually below
the average. The result of his investigations goes to show that the
excess of enteric fever cases during the period in question was due to
the consumption of sewage polluted watercress. It also appears that,
judging from the investigations made in this Borough, a large part of
the watercress supplied to the Metropolis is sewage polluted."
"From the condition of things revealed by this report, your Committee
are of opinion—"
1. "That the Local Government Board should be asked to make
an enquiry as the sources of the watercrcss supplied to the
Metropolis in relation to the possibility of this article
causing disease."
2. "That copies of the report of the Medical Officer of Health
should be forwarded to all the Metropolitan Borough