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Officer of Health at the same time found two brothers of this girl also suffering
from smallpox. One of these, a boy, aged 14, had been excluded from school
for a month with "chicken pox." A few days later a contact in the same house
was notified and removed to hospital.
Group 4.—Two boys of 9 years old. Their illnesses commenced on two
successive days in August after an interval during which the Borough had been
free from the disease. There was reason to believe that both boys had spent part
of their school holiday in the grounds of the Foundling Hospital, open for play
purposes, and it is very possible that there was a common source of infection.
Group 5.—After the Borough had been free from smallpox for some weeks
five cases were notified, two in one family at the end of October, a third in the
same family 12 days later, and two in another family a week afterwards. The
earliest of the three in the first family, F.M.S., was a girl attending Rosebery
Avenue L.C.C. School, Infants' Department, the earlier of the two in the second
family, E.G., was also a girl attending the Girls' Department of the same school;
the twelve days' interval suggests that F.M.S. infected E.G.
Not Grouped.—Seven cases notified during the year were not apparently
associated with any of the foregoing groups.
Ward Distribution.
The 55 cases were notified from the following Wards:—
Non- Sanitary
Resident Resident Inspector
Ward B Central St. Giles — 4 Mr. Bennett
Ward C Lincoln's Inn — 1 Mr. Laraid
Ward E South Bloomsbury 1 1 Mr. Clark
Ward F St. George-the-Martyr 1 19 Mr. Clark
Ward G North St. Andrew 1 15 Mr. Clark
Ward H South-East St. Andrew 7 3 Mr. Larard
Ward I Saffron Hill 2 — Mr. Larard
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Vaccination Campaign.
Early in the year the Chairman of the Public Health Committee (Lt.-Col.
J. H. Boraston, C.B.) suggested that a vaccination campaign might with
advantage be undertaken. The suggestion was enthusiastically adopted.
Vaccination, so to speak in peace time, is undoubtedly the best means of preventing
smallpox; vaccination of contacts at the time of discovery of a case is a
measure of far less value. Already the Medical Officer of Heath had taken steps
to get the staffs of all the hospitals in their Borough vaccinated, but prompt steps
were taken to put Col. Boraston's suggestion into force; a case of smallpox
presenting extreme difficulties in diagnosis from chicken pox having occurred in
a hotel, efforts were first directed towards securing the vaccination of the staffs
of hotels of all descriptions, including boarding houses.
Obviously smallpox in a London hotel is a matter of very considerable
importance; if a member of the staff infected the visitors the disease would in