Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Report on the sanitary condition of the Borough of Bermondsey for the year 1938
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II.— INFECTIOUS DISEASES, ETC.
The following diseases are notifiable:—
Anthrax
Acute Poliomyelitis
Acute Influenzal Pneumonia
Cerebro Spinal Meningitis
Diphtheria
Enteric Fever and Typhoid
Fever
Glanders
Malaria
Membranous Croup
Plague
Puerperal Fever
Relapsing Fever
Small-pox
Tuberculosis —all forms
Acute Polioencephalitis
Acute Primary Pneumonia
Cholera
Continued Fever
Dysentery
Encephalitis Lethargica
Erysipelas
Hydrophobia in Man
*Measles
Ophthalmia Neonatorum
Puerperal Pyrexia
Scarlet Fever and Scarlatina
Typhus
*Whooping Cough
*Applies to the first case in the house; subsequent cases occurring in the same house
within a period of two months from the date of first notification are not required to be
notified.
Owing to the housing conditions of the borough, it is the
practice to remove to hospital nearly all cases of diphtheria and
scarlet fever.
Before referring to particular diseases under this heading it
will be convenient to summarise the methods adopted in the
Department for dealing with infectious diseases generally. Cases
of infectious disease come to my notice either by notification
or by report from various sources. The first step is taken by the
District Sanitary Inspector who visits the premises immediately,
either on the same day or the morning immediately following.
He verifies the particulars already obtained, ascertains the names
of contacts together with the names of the schools attended or the
place of work. He also investigates the source of infection and
arranges for the swabbing of contacts or the disinfection of bedding