Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Report on the vital and sanitary statistics of the Borough of Lambeth during the year 1904
This page requires JavaScript
61
(downstairs) and, after being examined or treated, return to the
Main Buildings, unless suffering from symptoms of suspected
infectious complaints, in which case they are isolated at the
Infirmary (upstairs).
The general arrangement of the Buildings may be described as
a square. One side is made up by the entrance gates (in the
centre) with the Dining Hall and Boys' School on the left, and
the Staff Offices and the Girls' School on the right; whilst the
two adjacent sides contain, on the right, the Girls' Blocks (6 in
number), and, on the left, the Boys' Blocks (6 in number), and
the fourth side (opposite the entrance gates) is formed by the
Infirmary block and Swimming Bath. The pupils and staff live
on the premises, but mix with the outside world on occasions,
running, thereby, the usual risks of infection. There can be
but little doubt that the first case was introduced from without
into the Girls' blocks in September, 1903, and spread through
the medium of mild unrecognised cases, causing a total of 23—
22 girls and 1 boy—from September 16th up to the end of the
year 1903 (10 being notified in December). 10 further cases
occurred in the Girls' blocks during the first quarter of 1904, and
it was thought that the outbreak was stamped out successfully
in that no single case was notified during the 2 following months
(April and May). Unfortunately, the disease re-appeared in the
Boys' Blocks in June, and cases occurred off and on until the end
of the year 1904, both in the Boys' and the Girls' Blocks (chiefly
the former)—a total of 91 cases (69 boys, 19 girls and 3 officers)
for the year 1904.*
Up to the end of 1904, the outbreak, which began in
September, 1903, has consisted of 114 cases—70 boys, 41 girls
and 3 officers, and, taking the average number of inmates of the
Orphanage as 210 boys, 230 girls and 35 officers, the incidence
percentages work out at 33.3 (boys), 17.8 (girls), and 8.6
(officers), respectively.
* Up to the time of writing this Report (end of February), 5 cases
(3 girls and 2 boys) have been notified during 1905.