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persons, who had been in contact with cases of smallpox, were lodged and maintained in the
reception house of the Borough Council for an aggregate of 3,022 days.
Bermondsey.—Posters were exhibited and handbills distributed by the sanitary authority.
Vaccination stations were not opened, and assistants to vaccination officers were not appointed.
The arms of children in schools wee examined by the public vaccinator and vaccination officers.
House-to-house inquiry was made when necessary by the officers of the Borough Council.
Lambeth.—The arms of children in schools were not inspected. No vaccination station was
opened, and the medical officer of health did not regard this as necessary. Assistant vaccination
officers were not appointed. The vaccination officers made house-to-house inquiry in infected
streets. The Guardians exhibited posters advising vaccination and giving addresses of public
vaccinators. No other notices were issued by the Guardians or Borough Council.
Battersea.—Assistants to the vaccination officers were not appointed, a vaccination station
was not opened. No notices as to vaccination were issued by the Board of Guardians or the
Borough Council. The arms of children in schools were not examined. A house-to-house inquiry
was made by the vaccination officer in infected areas.
Wandsworth.—Assistants to the vaccination officers were not appointed, and a vaccination
station was not opened. The sanitary authority issued posters and handbills advising vaccination
and re-vaccination, and the arms of children in schools were examined by two medical men
appointed by them.
Camberwell.—An assistant vaccination officer was appointed. The vaccination officers
made house-to-house inquiry in streets in which smallpox occurred. The sanitary authority
exhibited posters. Children's arms were not inspected in schools.
Deptford.—No assistant to the public vaccinator or vaccination officer was appointed. A
vaccination station was not opened. Posters were exhibited and the officers of the Borough
Council made house-to-house inquiry in invaded areas. The arms of children in schools were not
examined.
Greenwich.—No assistant to the vaccination officer was appointed, and a vaccination station
was not opened. The Borough Council exhibited posters and distributed leaflets advising vaccination.
House-to-house inquiry in invaded areas was in the main made by the vaccination officer,
and on occasion by the medical officer of health and sanitary staff. The arms of children attending
the whole of the public schools and many private schools were inspected by the medical
officer of health, accompanied by the vaccination officers. Large employers of labour were advised
as to the desirability of the vaccination of their staff, and several arranged for the attendance
of the public vaccinator for the purpose.
Lewisham.—A vaccination station was not opened. The arms of children in schools were
examined by order of the Board of Guardians. Special circulars were issued and bills were
exhibited. No assistant vaccination officers were appointed. The medical officer of health vaccinated
persons in a number of houses. A stock of lymph was kept available for all practitioners
free of charge.
Woolwich.—An assistant vaccination officer was appointed and the public vaccinator obtained
the services of other medical men. A vaccination station was opened at the Royal Arsenal.
The arms of children in schools were examined by the public vaccinator and vaccination officer.
When smallpox first occurred in London posters were printed recommending re-vaccination.
Later, a bill was delivered at each house in the borough.
Social condition of persons attacked by smallpox.
In Appendix II. will be found an analysis by Dr. Hamer of the returns relating to some
4,000 cases in which particulars were given of the occupation of the persons attacked by smallpox.
It will be sufficient here to refer to two classes, (a) persons employed in laundries, and (b) persons
employed by local authorities who were especially exposed to smallpox infection.
In several instances reference is made by medical officers of health to the infection of
persons employed in laundries. Thus Dr. Collier, the medical officer of health of Hammersmith,
States that between 16th July, 1901, and 19th June, 1902, 91 cases were notified as occurring in
private dwelling-houses in Hammersmith. "Of this number, 22 of the patients were either employed
at laundries, or there was evidence that they had contracted the disease from persons who
were employed at laundries, and who were suffering from the disease." A tabular statement in
the report of Dr. Allan shows that in Westminster two laundry-women were attacked by smallpox.
In Shoreditch three laundry-women were attacked. In Kensington six were attacked, five of
these cases being secondary. In Wandsworth, the linen from an infected house was sent to a
laundry in which two laundry-maids were subsequently infected, two other persons being
infected by one of these maids. In Woolwich a laundry-man was attacked. This, probably, is
not a complete record, but such information as is available, while pointing to the infection of
the workers in the laundry by infected linen, does not give any indication of attack of persons
who received linen from the infected laundries. It needs, however, to be stated that much care
was taken to disinfect linen from such laundries.
In connection with the occurrence of smallpox among persons employed by the sanitary
authorities, the following information is supplied by the reports of medical officers of health—
In St. Pancras, at the beginning of the outbreak, an inspector and a disinfector were
attacked, as well as several of the cleansers of infected rooms.
In Holborn all the permanent staff of the Public Health Department were re-vaccinated
(except one who had been re-vaccinated 18 months before), and all escaped smallpox, but of
men who were employed temporarily in disinfection, and who were not re-vaccinated (except
one who was re-vaccinated five days after his work began) six suffered from smallpox, including the
man re-vaccinated too late.