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8
I may mention incidentally that during a house to house
inspection I found persons suffering from Small Pox whose
disease had not been recognised at the time, and one, a child,
who, with the disease upon her, had gone to a shop to make
purchases for a mother and unvaccinated infant sister, both
of whom subsequently died of the Small Pox. they had contracted
from her prior to my visit.
The Vestry are to be congratulated in adopting a method
of dealing with an outbreak of Small Pox which was attended
with such successful results, and it is a source of satisfaction
that whatever difficulties in the future may attend the existence
of Small Pox Hospitals, a course is open to the
Sanitary Authority which, especially if they could ensure the
immediate vaccination of all susceptible persons in the houses
of those attacked with Small Pox, would render the removal
of the affected to hospital a matter of much smaller moment.
From the termination of the Brunswick Grove outbreak
until April, a few cases of Small Pox appeared in different parts
of the parish. At this time, 11 cases occurred in eight houses in
"Wards I. and II., they were all removed to hospital except
one, who, after he had been taken ill, but before his disease
had been recognised, had left London for the country. Of the
eleven cases two occurred in a common lodging house,
where both were probably infected by one of the other
inmates, although no cne could at the time of my visit be
discovered in the lodging house who had recently suffered
from Small Pox. These two cases infected two others, one
who at the time of being taken ill was still residing in the
same lodging house, the other in a house in Bayham Street.
So far as St. Pancras is concerned, no other cases could be
traced to this centre, but it is of course impossible to say how
many cases elsewhere may have resulted from the man who
in the first instance brought infection into the common
lodging house.
In May, 13 cases of Small Pox were reported, but after this
month the disease slightly diminished, but I felt it my duty
in December to call the attention of the Vestry to the serious
increase of this disease in the eastern parts of the Metropolis,
and to recommend that by the purchase of an ambulance
greater facilities should be given for the removal of the sick
to hospital.
I am indebted to the Vaccination Officers for the accompanying
tables for the twelve months ending June 30th, 1880,