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London County Council.
Memorandum by Dr. C. W. F. Young relating to the occurrence of cases of diphtheria
in the Council's Fire Brigade Station, Sun-street, Woolwich.
On. January 9th, 1899, a telephonic message was received from the headquarters station of
the Fire Brigade asking that inquiry might be made concerning the occurrence of cases of
diphtheria in the family of one of the officers at the station at Sun-street, Woolwich. A visit
was accordingly made to the fire station, when it was found that three cases had
occurred amongst the children of the officer in charge. The first case was notified on January 1st,
the child having been ill since December 28th; the other two were notified on January 8th, and
from the history it appeared probable that the latter, one of whom was a lad employed at telegraph
works in the district and the other a baby, had contracted the disease at home from the first case.
At the date of visit the drains at the fire station were undergoing reconstruction, but there was no
evidence that the condition of the drains necessitating this reconstruction was in any way connected
with the occurrence of the first case, and opinion was expressed by the parents that the child
first attacked had in all probability contracted the complaint from other scholars at Powis-street
Board School, which school he had attended up to the time of the Christmas holidays,
commencing on December 24th, and amongst the scholars of which it was alleged a number of cases
of diphtheria had occurred during the recent school term. It was therefore considered necessary
to extend the inquiry with a view to ascertaining whether the disease was attributable to causes
outside the Fire brigade station.
It was then found that cases had occurred amongst scholars at Powis-street school, and
further, that there was a general feeling among parents that the children had contracted the
disease at school, in some way or other. tinder these circumstances it was considered desirable to
extend the inquiry into cases occurring in the district of Woolwich for some time back, and this has
been done for a period including the whole of the Christmas term, 1898, namely, from the week
ending August 20th. At this latter date the school was closed for the summer holidays, which
commenced on July 30th and ended on Monday, August 22nd, when the school re-opened. For a
month previous to August 20th therefore, the school cannot be considered as being a means of
bringing children together and thus tending to cause a spread of the disease. As matter of fact,
during the four weeks, July 24—August 20th, there were six cases of diphtheria notified in
Woolwich, but three of these occurred in one house and five in the same road, and all occurred in
an outlying part of Woolwich lying to the south of the Common, which practically divides it from
the chief inhabited part of the district nearer the river, in which Powis-street Board School is
situated.
Before dealing with the cases notified during the period for which inquiry has been made,
namely, August 21st, 1898—January 28th, 1899, it will be well to set out the number of cases
notified during the year 1898 and the first four weeks of 1899. This is done in the following
table in periods of four weeks—
Number of cases notified in the whole of Woolwich (including North Woolwich) during
1898 and January, 1899, in periods of four weeks—
(1.) 1898—January 6 (8.) 1898—July and August 6
(2.) „ February 8 (9.) „ August and Sept. 5
(3.) „ March 3 (10.) „ Sept. and October 7
(4.) „ March and April 9 (11.) „ October and Nov. 11
(5.) „ April and May 7 (12.) „ November and Dec. 29
(6.) ,, May and June 5 (13.) ,, December .10
(7.) „ June and July 2 (14.) 1899—January 14
The figures in this table show that between the commencement of October and the end of
December, 1898, and during January, 1899, there was a considerable increase in the notified cases.
Increase at this time might be accounted for by the seasonal variation in the occurrence of
diphtheria. The following account, based upon such information as it was possible to get at the
time of inquiry into the cases which occurred in the period under consideration, will indicate
whether there is reason for thinking that part of this increase is due to other than seasonal
influence.
Age incidence of the disease daring the period under consideration.
During this period there were 73 cases of diphtheria notified in Woolwich (excluding 1 case in
North Woolwich, which is situated on the opposite bank of the river Thames.)
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