View report page

27
without their removal, should as speedily as possible be removed to some
special hospital or place for the reception of the sick. Section 66 of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, gives power to a Justice to order such
removal*; and resort should be had to this provision wherever such a
measure seems necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. Similar powers
for the necessary detention in hospital of persons suffering from infectious
disease are obtainable under Section 67 of the same Act. Section 2 of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, including within the term "nuisance"
such overcrowding of a house or any part of a house as is injurious or
dangerous to the health of the inmates, whether or not members of the same
family, should also receive the special attention of the Sanitary Authority
with a view to the abatement of the nuisance under Sections 4 and 5 whereever
any infectious disease is or threatens to become prevalent in the district.
The powers given in Sections 72, 73, 74, and 89 of the same Act of 1891
should, if necessary, be exercised with regard to the bodies of persons who
die of small-pox.
2. After the removal or death of a patient suffering from small-pox, it is
desirable that the remaining inmates of the house, and other persons who are
known to have come into contact with infection, should be kept under observation
during a period of not less than 14 days, in order that, in the event of
any of them contracting the disease, it may be recognised at an early stage,
and thus prompt measures may be taken for preventing its further spread.
3. All houses or rooms and things infected with small-pox should be
disinfected under skilled direction, and with as little delay as possible after
the removal, convalescence, or death of the patient, and for this provision is
made in Sections 59.65 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. To secure
the disinfection of houses or rooms being properly performed it will be
desirable that it should, in as many cases as possible, be done by the servants
of the Sanitary Authority, and to the satisfaction of the Medical Officer of
Health. Under Section 60 (4) of that Act, temporary shelter or house
accommodation is to be provided for the members of any family in which
infectious disease has appeared, and who are compelled to leave their dwellings
for the purpose of enabling such dwellings to-be disinfected by the Sanitary
Authority. The Authority are also required by Section 59 to provide proper
premises, with the requisite apparatus and attendance, for disinfection (preferably
by steam) of articles (whether bedding, clothing, or other) which have become
infected by any dangerous infectious disease. Often it will be better, instead
of disinfecting infected articles (such as bedding and clothing), to destroy them ;
•In the case of Warwick v. Graham L.R. [1899] 2 Q.B. 191 ; 68 L.J. Q.B. 1001 ; 80 L.T.
n.s. 778 ; 63 J.P. 599, where it was proved that a person suffering from a dangerous infectious
disorder had proper lodging and accommodation, so far as he himself was concerned, at his father's
house, but that he could not be properly isolated, and there would be danger of infection to the
other inmates of the house if he remained there, it was held that there was evidence that he was
"without proper lodging or accommodation" within the meaning of Section 124 of the Public
Health Act, 1875 (corresponding to Section 66 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891),
Mr. Justice Bay remarking that the section referred to is clearly directed not only to the protection
of the sick person himself but to the protection of other persons from infection.