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56
In view of the possible risk of infection to human beings, it would
seem desirable that cases coming to the knowledge of the County
Council should be notified by that body to the Borough Councils, in
order that persons who have been exposed to the danger may be kept
under observation by the Medical Officer of Health of the district,
while the veterinary surgeon is looking after the horses and stables.
1,718 cases in horses were notified in London in 12 months ending
March 31st, 1905.
Plague.—Notifications were received with reference to seventeen
persons arrived from ports declared to be infected. They were all
found and kept under observation ; they remained in good health.
Cholera.—In view of the outbreak of this disease during the
autumn among persons employed on the rivers and canals of East and
West Prussia, and especially on the Vistula, which forms the boundary
between the Austrian province of Galicia and Russian Poland, passing
afterwards by Warsaw through Prussia to the Baltic, into which it falls
near Dantzic, I issued the following letter to medical men in parts of
the City to which persons from these countries are likely to come:—
“Cholera having broken out in parts of Russia, and of East and
West Prussia, bordering on the Baltic, it is possible that persons
affected with the disease may come to London from these
districts, there being a large Russian and Polish colony in the
Soho part of Westminster, a number of peisons arriving there
from time to time.
“I beg, therefore, to inform you that the Metropolitan Asylums
Board have made arrangements for the reception and treatment
of persons suffering from cholera, and of persons who, being
known to have been exposed to the infection of cholera, have
developed suspicious symptoms. Application for the removal of
such cases must be made to the Metropolitan Asylums Board by
the Medical Officer of Health for the district in which a case
occurs.
“I shall be obliged if you will inform me at once (by telephone or
messenger) should you be called to any person with suspicious
symptoms of cholera, so that steps may be taken with a view to
obtain official verification of the diagnosis without delay, and to
prevent the spread of infection.”
The Sanitary Authorities at British ports were warned by the Local
Government Board to take all necessary steps with regard to ships
coming from the Baltic ports, and in consequence notice was received
from the London Port Sanitary Authority of 90 persons who had arrived
from such ports, apparently in good health, and who had given an