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aged 10(m.), 4(f.), 2 (f.), years respectively, were notified and removed to S. Wharf.
The boy, aged 10 years, was subsequently found not to be suffering from smallpox; in
the case of the female child of 2 years the rash was confluent. All the members of the
family were vaccinated after the removal of "H.L.", but as he had been suffering for
some days before the nature of his illness was discovered, the vaccination was of no
avail, except perhaps in the case of the boy, aged 10 years, whose escape may have been
due to his not having been infected at all, or to the fact that he was infected at a
later date and in time for vaccination to overtake the process of incubation.
On the 11th May, " A. W. W.", a male aged 47 years, a disinfector employed by
the Bethnal Green borough council, developed a rash and consulted a private doctor,
who notified the case as one of scarlet fever the following day. His movements
had been uncontrolled for at least 24 hours after the appearance of the rash. The
patient was removed to the Eastern Fever Hospital, where the Medical Superintendent
suspected smallpox and had the man removed on the 13th May to S. Wharf,
where the diagnosis of smallpox was confirmed. The members of the disinfector's
family refused vaccination, with the exception of his wife, but fortunately they
escaped attack.
No further cases occurred until the 23rd June, i.e., six weeks later, when "E. H.,"
a female aged 57 years, who had not been vaccinated since childhood, developed
an attack of hæmorrhagic smallpox. She was seen by Dr. W. McConnel Wanklyn,
who confirmed the diagnosis. The patient died in hospital the next day. She
was employed as a charwoman at various addresses in S. Hackney and was last at
work on the 17th June, two days after she fell ill, the rash having appeared on or
about the 18th June. She had been attended by two local doctors and had been
seen by Dr. Oates, the medical officer of health of Bethnal Green, who called in Dr.
Wanklyn. The source of infection was obscure, but the chain of events pointed to
some undisclosed case or cases (presumably associated with the disinfector already
referred to) having been responsible for her infection.
The outbreak came to an end with the occurrence of two further cases living
next door to the last mentioned patient, viz., a man and his wife, aged 57 and 59
years respectively, neither of whom had been vaccinated since infancy.
All possible precautions were taken by Dr. G. E. Oates, the medical officer of
health, including house to house visitations, circularisation of medical practitioners,
vaccination of contacts where consent could be obtained, immediate removal to
hospital, disinfection, etc., and it is gratifying to record that the disease did not
spread further.
As an illustration of the difficulties encountered in the matter of vaccination
it may be mentioned that at Olga Street L.C.C. School, which was situated in the
heart of the affected area, out of 1,370 children on the roll, 799 had never been
vaccinated, and a further 116 had not been vaccinated within the last 10 years.
Arrangements were made for a public vaccinator to visit the school, but in only 27
cases was the consent of the parents to the vaccination of their children obtained.
This school was kept under close supervision throughout by the school medical
officer, and fortunately no case of smallpox occurred among the pupils. Finally
it may be mentioned that the Bethnal Green borough council made chickenpox
a notifiable disease for two months from the 13th July, 1925.
Cases of "provincial" smallpox in Lambeth.—A case of smallpox of the milder
type, which has been occurring for some years past in the midland and northern
counties, was discovered in Lambeth about the time when the secondary cases in
Bethnal Green occurred, and it was at first thought that the patient may have
been infected from that area. Enquiries contra-indicated this, firstly because no
possible connection could be traced, and secondly the type of disease was different
as already stated. The patient, E.J., an unvaccinated girl of 17 years, a resident
in the borough of Lambeth, was removed to S. Wharf on the certificate of Dr.