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Issuing of Handbills and Posters.
Early in October instructions were given by the Council that their Medical Officer should
prepare and issue a handbill and posters ; the latter to be posted in conspicuous places over the
Borough and the former to be distributed, one to every family in the Borough. The following is
a copy of these bills. They were both the same and differed only in size.
METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF BERMONDSEY.
Prevention of Small-Pox.
Owing to the prevalence of Small-pox in the Borough, the Council of the
Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey think it advisable that every one should be
acquainted with the early symptoms of the disease, and the best way to prevent its
spread.
The time which elapses from receiving the infection into the system to the
appearance of the first symptoms is nearly always 12 days. During this time the
patient feels well, after that period the symptoms are:—
I .—Chills and shivering in adults, or convulsions in children.
II. —lntense frontal headache.
III.—Severe pains in the small of the back and limbs.
IV. —Vomiting.
V.—On the third day pimples appear on the forehead and face, and later, gradually
appear on other parts of the body.
Should any person suffer from these symptoms they should be immediately
isolated and have medical advice.
Vaccination is the best way to prevent the disease. Those who have not been
vaccinated sines childhood, or had small-pox, should be re-vaccinated. Parents who
have not had their children vaccinated should get it done at once, as unvaccinated
children are less likely to recover from an attack. Those who have been in contact with a
case of small-pox and have not recently been vaccinated, should have it done, because
even if they have already contracted the disease, it will run a much milder course.
Vaccination or re-vaccination will be performed free of charge by any of the
Public Vaccinators. The patient, by applying to the Vaccination Officer, Mr. Bedding,
at the Guardians' offices, Tooley Street, S.E., can have the operation done at his own
home or at the surgery of the Public Vaccinator.
In cases of urgency, application may be made direct to one of the Public
accinatiors. It is performed with pure glycerinated calf lymph issued by the Local
Government Board, thus avoiding all risk of conveying any disease.
The following are the names and addresses of theTPublic Vaccinators :—
Dr. D. Smart, 108, Grange Road,
Dr. V. A. Jaynes, 157, Jamaica Road,
Dr. W. B. Johnston, 157, Jamaica Road.
Richard K. Brown, Medical Officer of Health.
Town Hall, Lower Road, S.E.
It was feared that by issuing these bills a P anic would be produced, but the result has not
justified these fears, since the people took the sensible view and learnt from them the early
symptoms and got vaccinated.
Examination of Contacts and House to House Inspection.
Early in the epidemic a very useful system was inaugurated among the Medical Officers of
Health in London, by which they kept one another posted in the contacts which occurred in each
of their districts. When an inspector visited an infected house, he took the names and addresses
of all persons who had been in contact with the patient. The names and addresses of those living
in the Borough concerned were handed to one of the district inspectors to be visited periodically
and of those living outside the Borough to the Medical Officers of the district to which they
belonged, so that they might be kept under observation. The Metropolitan Asylums Board also
sent a daily list of those who had visited friends at the Small-pox Hospitals, as well as daily lists
of admissions to, and discharges from, or deaths occurring in the hospitals.
The London County Council also gave a great deal of assistance by distributing among the
Medical Officers of Health in London daily lists containing particulars of all cases occurring in the
Metropolis, so that if any contacts were missed otherwise or any source of infection doubtful it
could be traced by looking at these. By these various sources of information we had constantly
a very large number of contacts under observation. The house in which the contact lived was
visited at first every second day, and towards the end of the incubation period, every day, by an
inspector, and on the slightest suspicion of illness occurring, immediately by myself. The
number of cases of small-pox occurring among these contacts was small compared with the total
number under observation.
In Wolseley Buildings and the Courts and Alleys adjoining, in Gareth and Porlock Places, or
wherever a case occurred in cul-de-sac or street where it was likely to spread, a house to house
inspection was By this method a good many eases were discovered during the early
part of the outbreak in Wolseley Buildings, In two cases the patients refused to see a doctor,
but their scruples were easily overcome by the exercise of a little patience.