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The reports of the medical officers of health of the several sanitary districts supply the following
more detailed information—
Paddington—All the cases of smallpox occurring in the district were those of adults
who had not been vaccinated since infancy. Three of these cases are referred to as "connected
cases." One case was that of a patient who had sickened in Westminster; the origin
of this case was not discovered. Another patient had been associated with a child who had
been thought to be suffering from chicken-pox. The source of infection of the other cases
was not discovered.
Kensington—Of the cases of smallpox notified, six were removed to hospital.
Hammersmith—No information as to the vaccination of one case of smallpox notified
could be obtained, the remainder had been vaccinated in infancy but not since.
Fulham—Two cases of smallpox were reported. In one case the disease was contracted
in Shoreditch. The source of infection of the second case could not be discovered.
Westminster—Of six cases of smallpox notified, one occurred in a private house and five
in common lodging-houses. One of the latter had slept in five different places since he
observed the rash. All the cases were removed to hospital. In September, notice was
received from the medical officer of health of Battersea of a girl who had developed smallpox
in that district and had been removed to hospital. She had been employed in dressmaking
in a factory in Westminster. Inquiry showed that a woman, three of whose children had been
removed to the smallpox hospital, had been working in the same room as the patient.
Marylebone—This district had suffered from a considerable prevalence of smallpox for
the chief part in July and August of 1894, and continuing in less degree to the end of the
year, ten cases being notified in the month of December. The monthly report of the medical
officer of health for January, 1895, gives account of a recrudescence of the disease in that
month, due to the retention in a house occupied by five families of a case of smallpox which
was not recognised until just before the death of the patient after nine days'illness. "During
the nine days of her illness, each of the five families had received a large number of visitors,
and a fortnight after the death notifications came in from some 20 cases, nearly all of whom
had been in or connected with the house in question." The medical officer in his report for
the month of February states, "There have been 39 cases of smallpox during the month, all
of which have been removed to hospital. Five of the cases were fatal; all the five were young
unvaccinated children."
Hampstead— Two cases of smallpox occurred in this district. One patient contracted
the disease in Bermondsey, the other, a patient in the North London Consumption Hospital,
had been admitted from a lodging-house in the east of London, from which a porter suffering
from smallpox had been removed.
Islington—Twenty-five persons were certified to be suffering from smallpox, four of
whom, after removal to hospital, were returned to their home on the ground that their malady
was not this disease. The medical officer of health states that the very greatest efforts were
made in every instance to have the cases speedily removed to hospital, as he had " very great
fears as to the consequences in this district if the disease should obtain a hold, owing to the
grave neglect of vaccination by the guardians." Of the 21 cases of smallpox, 14 were
vaccinated, 6 unvaccinated, and the condition as to vaccination of one was " uncertain."
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