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The type of the disease continued to remain mild, and there were
no deaths.
One instance may be quoted to illustrate how easily this mild type
of Smallpox may be missed, and how difficult it is to trace the source of
infection in many cases.
A Medical Officer of the Department was asked to see a suspected
case of Smallpox. On visiting the house he found three patients suffering
from the disease but could not discover the source of infection. Later
it was admitted that the house had been visited daily by a married daughter
who had been confined seven days prior to the visit of the Medical Officer
and the discovery of Smallpox. The woman had been admitted
later to a general hospital with her baby because the latter had been
diagnosed as a case of Pemphigus. On visiting the hospital the baby
was found to be suffering from Smallpox, and the mother, who denied
having had any illness, showed definite lesions of recent Smallpox.
Further enquiries indicated that the husband was the first case in this
family. Fortunately, no further cases occurred and the baby recovered.
It is almost certain that had this baby not suffered from a rather severe
eruption the source of infection of the three cases mentioned above would
not have been traced.
Six cases were removed from a Common Lodging House.