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have been sucked into a defective communication pipe, and
it may be noted that on the evening of Thursday, May 29th,
we experienced one of the heaviest of last years' storms,
by which the sewers were surcharged and the basements in
that locality flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet, so that the
risk of sewage being drawn into a defective empty pipe would
be increased, as the subsoil would be soaked with it. Even if
the cases were due to the water, no evidence in that direction
would be obtained by the examination of the water at the time
when the cases were reported as some three or four weeks
had elapsed since the date of infection, and the pollution,
if any, must have been, from the course of the outbreak, of a
very transient nature. The organic matter in the sample taken
on July 2nd from the main supplying the affected area was
reported by the Analyst to be " decidedly too high," but this
was also the case in samples taken on the same day from other
mains of the West Middlesex Company and also in two samples
taken from the Chelsea Company's mains.
Of the other cases in the Borough, three, in one family,
were probably due to shell-fish, and six to personal infection.
In the latter group were five children who were infected by their
mother, the nature of whose illness was not recognised until
the fourth week.
Isolation of patients suffering from Infectious Diseases.
Accommodation for persons suffering from Scarlet Fever,
Diphtheria, Enteric Fever, Typhus Fever, and Small-pox, is
provided by the Managers of the Metropolitan Asylums Board
at their various hospitals, and the increasing recognition by the
public of the advantages accruing from the isolation of the
infectious sick, is shown by the steadily increasing proportion
of patients suffering from those diseases who are removed to
hospital.