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33
Sanitary Authorities and their adjoining districts. At the request of
Dr. Reece of the Local Government Board, who visited West Ham on
November 6th, I arranged for a house-to-house visitation of the dock
district to find out the houses where seamen are, or are likely to be,
taken in as lodgers or permanent residents. I also sent the following
circular letter to every medical man practising in the district:—
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
West Ham,
November, 1899.
My Dear Sir,
Plague in Portuguese Ports.
You are aware that there is a very considerable trade between
London and Portugal, and at the present time the vessels, and those
on board, are submitted to a careful inspection by the Medical
Officer of Health to the Port of London. The names and addresses of
those arriving from Portuguese Ports are taken, and the name of any
person coming into West Ham from a suspicious source is sent on to
me and subsequently visited by the staff of this department.
As the incubation of Plague is estimated by the Venice Convention
to be from five to ten days, and the duration of the voyage
from Oporto is only four days, it is quite possible for persons to land
in an incubative stage. It is therefore desirable that special attention
should be paid to sea-faring persons coming under your notice in the
early stages of illness, and if at any time you can give me information
of any suspicious illness in a person of this class I shall be extremely
obliged ; while, on the other hand, if I can give you any information
concerning any sea-faring persons whose name, or names, have been
sent to me, I shall be glad to do so.
I am,
Yours very faithfully,
CHARLES SANDERS,
Medical Officer of Health.