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34
1930]

SMALLPOX.
The cases notified as Smallpox properly residing in the Borough numbered
244, as against 71 in the year 1929. Of these 244 cases, six were returned from
hospital as unverified, that is, not considered to be smallpox. Of these notifications,
198 were unvaccinated persons, 43 were vaccinated in infancy only, and
three were doubtful. One case, an unvaccinated infant at the breast, was not sent
to hospital, but was isolated at home and special precautions were enforced to
ensure that the isolation was complete. This baby was infected through another
case which had occurred in the same household, and both the mother and the baby
were then vaccinated, but in the case of the young infant it was too late to avoid
infection, although undoubtedly the attack was modified. At this time it was
doubtful if the mother would be admitted to hospital with the baby, and in the
circumstances, as they could be isolated in an attic at the top of the house, in the
best interests of the infant, this single case was kept at home.
The cases are classified as was done in the Report for 1929, according to the
source of infection. A small outbreak occurred in the Islington Institution through
a case being for a time "missed." A man was admitted at the end of January
to the Institution in a septic and verminous condition, his clothing having to be
cut off and burned. Underneath the skin sores it was not imagined that he had
also smallpox, and it was only by inference that he at a later stage was re.examined
and found to be the cause of infection of the other nine cases which occurred.
In St. Mary's Hospital 6 cases were notified at intervals throughout the year,
but there was no outbreak in the hospital itself. One case occurred in a common
lodging.house, 212 cases occurred in ordinary private houses, and 15 occurred in
blocks of dwellings.