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The disinfection speodily follows, and the bedding, clothing, and other
contents of the infected rooms, together with any other infected clothing or
materials, are removed for disinfection by high-pressure steam, or for
destruction; the infected rooms are sealed up and fumigated, and when
re-opened the cleansers strip the walls of paper and burn it, and thoroughly
wash and cleanse all the surfaces, including the ceiling, walls, paint-work,
wood-work, furniture, and floor, and the disinfected articles are returned.
The disinfection and cleansing require to be very thoroughly done, and the
Sanitary Inspector assures himself that the disinfectors and cleansers do their
work thoroughly and completely.
The staff and attendants must have been re-vaccinated, especially the
medical men, nurses, inspectors, disinfectors, and cleansers, or a break down
of the machinery may occur at a critical moment—as occurred a fortnight
after the beginning of this outbreak, when the inspector and disinfector who
dealt with the first recognised case in St. Pancras themselves fell ill with the
disease. Several of the cleansers engaged in stripping and cleansing infected
rooms were also stricken.
From the inspector's inquiry forms are carefully extracted the schools
attended by the patient (if a child), and by all the children in the house, and
copies of the medical certificate are sent to the head teachers. Also carefully
extracted are the workplaces and offices attended by the patient (if an adult),
and by all the adults in the house, and the names and addresses with contact
notices are sent to the employers, or, if they are situated outside the Borough, to
the Medical Officer of Health of the place where the workplace or office is
situated. Similarly, from other medical officers of health are received the
names and addresses of persons residing or working in St. Pancras who resort
to infected houses or workplaces in their Boroughs or Districts.
All these persons are treated as contacts, and contact notices or handbills are
sent to them, and at infected houses the inspector delivers a copy of the notice
or handbill to the inmates of every room, and conveys the contacts to the disinfecting
station. The handbill notice is in the following form :—
ST. PANCRAS BOROUGH COUNCIL.
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Pancras Road, N.W.
SMALL-POX.
notice
To Persons in contact with Small-Pox.
This is to warn you that, Small-pox having broken out in your house, or
that you, having come into contact with the disease, are dangerous to yourself
and to others.
You are advised forthwith to take a warm bath, with plenty of soap, carefully
cleansing the hair and the nails, to have the clothing you are wearing
disinfected by steam, and to be re-vaccinated, and to obtain certificates that
you have undergone personal cleansing, disinfection and re-vaccinat.iont in