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40
Treatment in Sanatoria, Etc.
The number of applications made to London Insurance Committee for
Institutional treatment was as follows:—
Soldiers 55
Others 64
No. admitted to various Institutions was:—
Soldiers 52
Others 56
No. of applications to London County Council 103
No. admitted 76
SMALLPOX.
For the first time since 1904 cases of smallpox were reported in St. Pancras
during the year. Ten cases in all were reported, and were removed to
hospital. One other patient was removed who was found to be a case
of chicken-pox. There was one fatal case. They occurred in three groups,
us follows:—
The first case (not counted to St. Pancras) was in a woman living at
an apartment house in Burton Street, who fell ill on 25th December, 1918
(rash 28th December), while staying at an address in Battersea, from which
she was removed straight to hospital on 31st December. Two other cases, a
man (aged2l) and wite (aged 21), developed in the same Burton Street house
on 31st December (rash prior to 6th January, 1919) and 2nd January (rash 5th
January) respectively. All the contacts were promptly vaccinated and kept
under observation, and there were no further cases in the locality. The outbreak
was afterwards traced to an Australian soldier who slept at the Burton
Street address on the nights of December 8th, 9th and 10th, and was found to
have smallpox on 11th December.
The second outbreak consisted of two cases in a tenement house in Dewsbury
Terrace. The first case was a girl of 13, who fell ill on 1st January and
developed a rash a few days later, and was diagnosed as suffering from
chicken-pox. Her mother (aged 37) fell ill on 18th January (rash said to be
first noticed on 22nd January). This case was diagnosed as chicken-pox, but
on admission to the St. Pancras (North) Infirmary on 25th January was
discovered by the Medical Superintendent (Dr. (Jhilcott) to be a case of
smallpox, and was immediately sent off to the smallpox hospital. The
daughter (the first case) was diagnosed by the medical officer of health and
removed on 26th January. The contacts were vaccinated and kept under
observation, and there were no further cases. No connection was traced
between these cases and any previous ones in St. Pancras or elsewhere.
The third outbreak numbered six cases in St. Pancras. The first (Countess
Road) was in the person of the wife (aged 40) of one of the disinfectors who
(i.e., the disnfector had on 27th January handled the infected bedding from the
Dewsbury Terrace cases, but had not visited the infected house. The history was
that she fell ill on 7th February, the rash being noticed on 11th February. She
was seen by a doctor, who diagnosed fish poisoning. Her son (aged six months)
afterwards sickened, the rash appearing on 25th February, and was diagnosed