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32
19331
ANTI-TOXIN TREATMENT.
During the year 68,500 units of Diphtheria Anti-toxin serum were issued to
Medical Practitioners in the Borough. Of this quantity 48,500 units were sold,
the total amount received by the Council being £2 7s. 11d. The remaining 20,000
units were given free, owing to the patients' limited means.
Scarlet Fever.—1,220 cases were notified, and they showed an increase of
116 on the average (1,104) of the ten years 1923-32. The attack-rate was equal to
3.82 per 1,000 of the civil population annually, which is an increase of 0.47 per
1,000 of the mean rate (3.35) of the preceding ten years. In London the attackrate
was 5.0 per 1,000 of the civil population.
As will be seen by the Table, page 90, 38 cases of Scarlet Fever were treated
at home. A proportion of these of course were due to the London County Council
circular stating that the accommodation for Scarlet Fever was limited in view of
the increased treatment of Measles. For a time cases of Scarlet Fever were only
admitted on the recommendation of the Medical Officer of Health.
TYPHOID FEVER AT CAMP. USE OF CONTAMINATED WATER.
On the 6th July a young man of 17 years of age, home address, 47, Battledean
Road, Islington, was notified to be suffering from Typhoid Fever. Upon investigating
the case (he had been admitted to St. Mary, Islington, Hospital, on the
1st July), we were able to get some information from the parents of the lad. It
appeared he went on a cycling tour on Whit Monday with several members of a
cycling club to New House Farm, situated in the Parish of Sheering, Essex, in
the district of the Medical Officer of Health for the Epping Rural District. This
New House Farm lets out an adjacent field called "The Moors" to cyclists for
camping. The campers apparently take their water supply from a "cascade"
which flows from near the river Stort, and which eventually supplies a bathing
pool. A case of Typhoid Fever had already been admitted elsewhere in London,
but apparently the source of infection was not traced until we got an inkling of the
matter by questioning these lads in Islington. We immediately communicated
with the Ministry of Health in accordance with their Memorandum on the Duties
of Medical Officers of Health, Infectious Diseases, Part 9. This matter was one
of considerable importance, because this area is part of the Catchment Area for
water supply. The Ministry immediately had an investigation made on the spot.
From the Secretary of the Club we obtained as far as he could give it a list of the
campers about this time, and we informed the other Health Authorities so that all
contacts might be followed up.
The Medical Officer of Health of the district stated that it was quite an
unofficial camp of which they knew nothing; the farmer had merely permitted
camping. The Local Authority stopped the camping at once, as the field had no
proper water supply nor any sanitary convenience. He said it was quite reasonable
to believe that the campers took water from the river below and quite close to
the outfall of the sewage effluent. An unfortunate result of this holiday camp was
that one of the Islington lads who contracted the disease died. The other Islington
lad who contracted the disease recovered.
Another club patient residing in Hackney died of the disease, and there were
at least two other cases non-resident in Islington, that is, five cases from this
polluted water supply, of whom two died.