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SUMMARY OF SMALL-POX FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER, 1930.
The customary disinfection, where necessary, was carried out, and those persons, resident
or employed in the City, who had been in contact with cases of Small-pox were supervised.
The total number of cases (including missed cases) notified or reported to this Department
during the period ended 31st December, 1930, was 287, made up as follows:—
Resident and removed from City premises 6
Resident in the City but removed from premises or institutions outside the
City 4
Non-resident but removed from City premises 0
Non-resident but removed from O.P. Dept., St. Bartholomew's Hospital 25
Non-resident but employed in the City 228
Non-resident but who attended the O.P. Department, St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, and who were diagnosed as suffering from Chicken-pox and
sent home, being subsequently removed by local Medical Officers of
Health as suffering from Small-pox 4
Non-resident but employed in the City, who were contacts to other cases,
and who, for the latter reason, had been instructed by their employers
to remain away from work 52
Returned as " Not Small-pox " :—
(a) Non-residents but employed in the City 4
(b) Non-residents removed from O.P. Department of St.
mew's Hospital2
The total number of persons in contact with cases ascertained or notified during the
period ended 31st December, 1930, was 7,516, made up as follows:—
Notified to this Department by Medical Officers of Health of the districts
from which the cases were removed :—
(a) City residents 34
(b) Non-residents employed in the City 2,285
In contact with cases resident in the City or removed from City premises
(including St. Bartholomew's Hospital):—
(a) City residents 975
(b) Non-residents 38
In contact with cases not resident but employed in the City and notified to
the appropriate Medical Officers of Health if resident outside the City:—
(a) City residents 24
(b) Non-residents 4,160
RECEPTION AND TREATMENT OF MEASLES AND SCARLET FEVER.
In consequence of the demand for hospital accommodation in London, resulting from
the many cases of Small-pox notified, the Metropolitan Asylums Board were compelled to
put into operation a scheme of selection of cases of measles and scarlet fever.
Consequently these cases could only be admitted to hospital after they ha d been referred
to the appropriate medical officer of health, with a view to his selecting those cases which,
in his opinion, should be removed to hospital having regard to all the circumstances.
The following were the considerations which were set out as a guide to assist in selection
in regard to cases of measles :—
1. Where, because of the type of house, proper care is not possible.
2. Where the age of the child is that of high mortality, viz., at, or about,
two years.
3. Where broncho-pneumonia co-exists with the measles.
In regard to scarlet fever, the selection depended largely on the home conditions, i.e.,
whether the patient resided in a tenement, a house attached to a shop, a boarding-house, or
an hotel.
Measles is not a notifiable disease, and medical men, therefore, are not always aware
that hospital accommodation is available at all, either conditionally or unconditionally,
and I, therefore, addressed an appropriate communication to members of the profession
practising within the City, and inviting them to communicate with me in cases where hospital
treatment was desired in cases of measles, and drawing their attention to the conditions
under which admission could only be secured for measles and scarlet fever patients.
The necessity for selection ceased in May, and medical men were informed accordingly.