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33
PLAGUE.
The closing year of the 19th century is noteworthy as having
furnished the first instance since the days of the heavy mortality of
the 17th century, in which plague has obtained a footing in one of
our great cities. The outbreak at Glasgow showed most unmistakably
that we in England remain susceptible to this particular disease, and
that it is capable of spreading to an alarming extent in our centres of
population. The outbreak at Glasgow was of a somewhat mild type,
and the evidence is opposed to rats having actively participated in
the spread of the disease, and in this respect the Glasgow epidemic
presents a striking contrast to that at Sydney in the earlier part of the
year. The disease tends to develop in the poorer quarters, amid
surroundings where both dirt and darkness are prevalent, and this
lesson must be taken to heart in view of the risks of the importation
of the disease which will have to be faced, probably for another year
or two.
In view of the possible occurrence of cases of plague in and around
London, the Local Government Board ordered the immediate notification,
to the Sanitary Authority, of all cases of the disease. The same
fees as those payable with respect to the other notifiable diseases
were allowed. The medical practitioners in the Parish were advised
of this and provision was made for a bacteriological diagnosis of
any doubtful case, on application to the Council offices.
SCARLET FEVER.
The 116 cases of Scarlet Fever occurred in 104 different houses,
in 3 of which there were grave insanitary conditions; in 10 the
insanitary conditions were slight, and in the remaining houses there
was an absence of such conditions.
School attendance was ascribed as the origin of the infection in
20 cases; and in three cases there were strong reasons for believing
that the infection was communicated by a patient recently dismissed
from a fever hospital. The infection was imported into the Parish in
2 instances, and in 6 instances the infection was directly contracted
from a preceding case.