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occurred was 1928, when an outbreak of 30 cases, all in the St. Marylebone Home,
gave rise to considerable anxiety, but fortunately was kept within the bounds of the
institution. Full details with regard to the cases were printed in the report of
1928 and need not be repeated. The same may be said of the 3 cases notified in
1929. In 1930, the number of notifications received was 6, although the cases
actually proved to be small pox numbered only 5. In each instance the infection
was of the mild type and all the patients recovered. Active steps to guard against
spread of infection were taken, including the vaccination or revaccination of
contacts and were uniformly successful. The most interesting cases and those
that gave rise to the greatest amount of work were two that occurred in the staff
of a large store in the Borough. Recognizing their importance the management
facilitated in every way possible the carrying out of preventive measures, and
largely as a result no further spread of infection occurred. Inspection of the
staff led to the discovery of the origin of infection in two cases, sisters who, having
been lately out of sorts for a day or two, regarded their complaint as influenza and
did not seek medical advice. These cases as well as the following up of individuals
residing or employed in the Borough who had been in contact with patients
elsewhere, gave rise to a great amount of work. In this, Dr. Bulman, both
during the time he was acting as temporary Public Vaccinator and after his
appointment as Assistant Medical Officer of Health and Public Vaccinator,
rendered valuable assistance. Appointment to this position, which is the only one
of the kind in the Kingdom, was made in July, 1930. At the same time the
appointments of Dr. P. K. Byrne as Public Vaccinator to St. Marylebone Home,
and of Dr. L. Phillips as Public Vaccinator to Queen Charlotte's Hospital were
confirmed ; Dr. R. L. Bell being appointed as Deputy Public Vaccinator.
Vaccination.—On the subject of vaccination generally, this opportunity may
be taken to note that since the coming into operation of the Local Government
Act, 1929, and the transference to the Borough Council of the functions of the
Board of Guardians in relation to vaccination, matters have moved with great
smoothness. Largely this is due to the fact that the whole staff concerned,
including the Vaccination Officer and the Public Vaccinator, are whole-time officers
of the Council and are attached to the Public Health Department. This alone, it
is felt, has had an influence in creating confidence in the procedure and those
connected with it. From the beginning an attempt has been made to stress less
the legal than the protective and preventive aspects of the procedure. This, it is
believed, has had good results, the number of refusals showing a marked tendency
to fall. By explaining by letter and at visits the reasons for recommending vaccination,
it is felt that great progress is likely to be made and that the results as
shown by statistics will steadily improve. The usual table has been prepared by
the Vaccination Officer and will be found on page 81, while the following statement
gives some information with regard to the work done and the results obtained by
Dr. Bulman in the 9 months he has been acting as Public Vaccinator.
Number of visits paid 1,539
Number of vaccinations—
Primary 492
Re-vaccinations 632
1,124
Number of successful vaccinations 1,120
N umber of unsuccessful vaccinations 4
Number of refusals 5
Infectious Diseases in Schools.
The accompanying table shows the number of cases of measles, whooping
cough, chicken-pox and the notifiable infectious diseases reported from Schools
during 1930. During the year in certain of the schools, one or more classrooms
were closed on account of measles.