View report page

16
Spotted Fever.
Cerebro spinal meningitis (spotted fever) threatens to
become epidemic in the Metropolis. Up to the present
there have been one or two possible cases in the Borough,
but not one of these has been diagnosed with certainty. It
appears that in a large number of cases the symptoms are
so similar to influenza and one or two other diseases that
mistakes may easily be made; the only certain method of
identification is a method of bacteriological examination.
Since the malady is associoated with a minute parasite it
may with confidence be stated that it is "communicable,"
but how it is communicated from one person to another is
obscure. It will now be the duty of the sanitary officers to
enforce the same measures of isolation and disinfection as in
the ordinary notifiable and infectious maladies.
No arrangement has been made with the Asylums
Board with regard to cases of cerebro spinal meningitis but
the general Hospitals have hitherto raised no difficulty in
receiving suspected cases.
Disinfecting Apparatus.
About 11 years ago the then Vestry purchased and
erected a large Goddard and Massey's steam disinfector,
this has been in use every working day. The outer boiler
is now entirely worn out and will have to be renewed
or the whole apparatus may have to be replaced; over ten
thousand separate articles are submitted to steam
disinfection each year, so that it is absolutely necessary to
be provided with apparatus of sufficient size and of high
efficiency. For the moment the Borough of Hampstead is
assisting by allowing the larger articles, which cannot be
disinfected in our smaller supplementary disinfector, to be
disinfected in their apparatus. Some years ago the Vestry
of St. Marylebone, under similar circumstances, came to the
aid of Hampstead in the matter of disinfection.
Home Work Regulation Bill.
The following report was submitted to the Public
Health Committee, March 1.5th, and unanimously adopted:—