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14
PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
The preventive measures which were adopted, may he arranged under the following headings:—
1. Vaccination and re-Vaccination.
2. Early diagnosis of the disease.
3. Prompt removal of the patient to Small-pox Hospital.
4. Disinfection.
5. Temporary shelter or house accommodation for persons during the disinfection of their
rooms.
6. Visits to infected houses day by day for a fortnight, so that any person who is ill can be
medically examined, in order to ascertain whether the person has contracted Small-pox.
7. Information to the respective Medical Officers of Health of the Districts in which contacts
with the0 patient reside or work.
1.—Vaccination and Re-vaccination.
The most effective measure for the prevention of Small-pox is Vaccination and Re-vaccination.
It is most anomalous that the control of vaccination should be in the hands of Boards of Guardians,
and this Council agreed that this control should be transferred to the Sanitary Authorities.
I at once advised that prompt measures should be taken to secure efficient vaccination and
re-vaccination throughout the Borough. I wrote to the Boards of Guardians of St. Giles and
Bloomsbury and of Holborn, suggesting that they should give directions for a house-to-house visitation
in order to endeavour to secure this. I also saw the clerks and vaccination officers of these Boards.
I alluded to the results of the inspection of the arms of children attending Voluntary Schools
in the Borough of Marylebone, and suggested that the Council should endeavour to secure this in the
Board and Voluntary Schools throughout the Borough.
The Board of Guardians of St. Giles and Bloomsbury very promptly took action. The Board
had placards respecting Small-pox and Vaccination posted throughout the Parishes and similar
hand-bills distributed in the house-to-house visitation; also the leaflets of the Jenner bociety on the
subject of Vaccination and Sanitation.
An assistant Vaccination Officer was also appointed to assist in the house-to-house visitation.
By the 24th December, 1901, every house, tenement, common lodging-house, factory, laundry, etc.,
had been visited, 13,000 hand-bills and 3,000 Jenner leaflets had been distributed.