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21
SMALLPOX.
No case of this disease was notified during the year, but a number of persons who had been
exposed to risk of infection from cases occurring outside the Borough were kept under observation
until all danger of their developing the disease was over.
During the year all vaccinations of smallpox contacts were performed by the Public Vaccinator,
none being performed by the Medical Officer of Health under the Public Health (Smallpox Prevention)
Regulations, 1917.
VACCINATION.
There are two vaccination districts in the Borough, one consisting of the Paddington Hospital,
for which the Medical Superintendent, Dr. W. J. Gill, acts as Public Vaccinator, and Dr. F. A.
Bryning as Deputy Public Vaccinator, and the other of the rest of the Borough, the Public Vaccinator
being Dr. E. R. Emslie, and the Deputy Public Vaccinator, Dr. E. D. Fenwick.
The Vaccination Officer is Mr. T. E. Rainger, who was appointed to that position in 1931. The
appointment is a part-time one, Mr. Rainger also holding a position on the clerical staff of the Public
Health Department.
The latest return available as to the state of vaccination in the Borough is for the year 1937.
This shows that 54.24 per cent. of the children whose births were registered during that year were
successfully vaccinated, and that 19.76 per cent. were exempted on production of statutory declarations
of conscientious objection. Insusceptibility, removals, deaths, postponement by medical certificate
and not traced, account for the remaining 25.98 per cent.
During the year 1938, no vaccinations were performed in the Paddington Hospital. In the
rest of the Borough, 726 infants under one year of age, and 31 persons over that age were successfully
vaccinated by the Public Vaccinator, by whom also 17 persons were re-vaccinated who had been
successfully vaccinated at some previous time.
Of children born in the Borough and those transferred from other districts the total number
vaccinated by Public Vaccinators and other Medical Practitioners was 1,407 ; and the total number
of statutory declarations of conscientious objection received from Paddington and other districts
was 396.
No legal proceedings were taken during the year 1938 for non-compliance with the provisions
of the Vaccination Acts.
CHICKEN-POX.
Chicken-pox has been notifiable in Paddington since November 28th, 1922, but the sections
of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, dealing with disinfection, exposure to infection, etc., are
not in force as regards this disease.
During 1938, 294 certificates were received from medical practitioners. In addition 193 cases
were reported from other sources, making a total of 487 for the year.
Chicken-pox is not usually nursed in an institution, but 25 cases received institutional treatment
for various reasons.
TYPHOID FEVER AND CONTINUED FEVER.
Five cases of typhoid fever and one case of continued fever were notified in 1938.
In cases where the diagnosis of typhoid fever cannot be made with certainty but there is a
strong likelihood of the disease being present, local doctors are encouraged to obtain early hospital
treatment for the patients by notifying them as having continued fever.
Four of the cases received hospital treatment.
No death from typhoid fever occurred during the year.
MEASLES.
By virtue of The County of London (Measles and Whooping Cough) Regulations, 1938, measles
became notifiable as from the 1st Octooer, 1938, except in the following circumstances:—
(а) where to the knowledge of the medical practitioner a case of measles has occurred in the
house and has been notified within the two months immediately preceding the date on
which he first became aware of the disease in the case he is attending;
(b) where the case is being treated in a hospital for infectious diseases; or
(c) in the case of a person suffering from measles admitted as a patient into a hospital belonging
to the County Council, if at the time of his admission a copy of a certificate to that effect
has been sent by a district medical officer of health to the County Council.
The order enables local authorities to "take such steps as are necessary or desirable for investigating
the source of infection, for preventing the spread of infection, and for the removing of conditions
favourable to infection."
From the 1st October until the end of the year 6 cases of measles were notified in pursuance of
these Regulations.
There were, during the year under review, 1,118 cases brought to the knowledge of the Department
by means of reports from schools, parents, etc. In the following table these cases, together
with the notified cases, are distributed among the various wards of the Borough in four-weekly
periods.