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(4) Disinfection.
All infected rooms and articles were thoroughly disinfected, all bedding, clothings linen,
etc., being removed from the house and disinfected in the Council's steam disinfector.
Additional men were furnished by the Borough Surveyor as the outbreak increased. Shafts
were added to the disinfecting trucks, and a pony was employed to draw them. A new Defries
Steam Disinfecting Apparatus was provided.
All rooms were also stripped and limewashed by the Surveyor's Department. In common
lodging houses this was done the same day that the patient was removed, even if this took place
after office hours, the men being at work sometimes till after midnight.
(5) Temporary Shelter or House Accommodation for Persons during the Disinfection
of their Rooms.
As soon as the first case of Small-pox was notified an empty house, 191, High Holborn,
belonging to the Council was prepared and furnished as a shelter for persons during the
disinfection of their rooms.
The family of the first case remained there for a fortnight, but the families generally only
remained at the shelter until the disinfection and stripping of the rooms was completed.
At first, food for the families was supplied by the St. Giles and Bloomsbury Guardian
Board. As soon as the Council had the opinion of the Local Government Board, dated the 22nd
February, 1902, that it is competent to a Metropolitan Borough Council to supply the necessary
food to any inmate of a temporary shelter provided by them, the Council did this instead of the
Guardian Board.
During the outbreak the number of inmates was 240, of these 187 belonged to Bloomsbury
and St. Giles, aud 53 to the Holborn Sub-Division.
(6) Visits to Infected Houses Day by Day for a Fortnight so that any Person
who is ill can be medically examined in order to ascertain whether the person has
contracted small-pox.
(7) Information to the respective Medical Officers of Health of the Districts in
which Contacts with the Patient reside or work, and to Schools, Libraries, Workplaces, &c.
During the last three months of the year (1901 and the first five months of 1902)
the work of carrying out these various preventative measures occupied much of the time of
the Public Health Department. Visits were also made on the 17th day after the removal
of a patient suffering from Small-pox as an additional precaution.
conference on small-fox.
A Conference of Representatives of the Sanitary Authorities of the Metropolis, convened
by the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn, was held on the 7th February, at the offices of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board, on the embankment, for the purpose of considering whether the
measures at present adopted in dealing with outbreaks of Small-pox can be in any way improved.
Mr. R. M. Hensley, Chairman of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, welcomed the delegates.
He reminded them of some of the figures contained in the report presented at a recent meeting
of the Metropolitan Asylums Board as proving the value of vaccination and re-vaccination.
Professor W. R. Smith was elected to the chair, and Mr. Henry C. Jones, Town Clerk of
the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn, was appointed Clerk to the Conference, and various
resolutions were afterwards proposed.