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17
Steps taken to deal with the Outbreak.
Notification.—Immediately on receiving notice of a case, whether
of a suspicious nature or not, I visited the patient without delay. If
the case turned out to be one of true Variola, I at once informed the
Public Vaccinator and the whole of my Staff, who stood to their posts.
Isolation.—Isolation was secured in every case, except one, by
the removal of the patient to the Clare Hall Hospital, South Mimms.
This removal was generally managed within two hours of the case being
notified, with the exception of cases discovered in the evening. The
Hospital refuses to take cases after 8 p.m., and under these circumstances
the patients were removed early the following morning.
Disinfection.—The rooms were fumigated with Formic Aldehyde,
the floors washed down with liquid disinfectant, and the walls stripped.
All bedding and textile articles were disinfected by steam in our
Washington Lyons disinfector.
Vaccination.—Without loss of time Dr Aird Jolly, the Public
Vaccinator, visited the premises and vaccinated or re-vaccinated all
contacts. I am much indebted to this gentleman for his prompt and
valuable assistance.
Contacts.—The names and addresses of all contacts were taken,
together with premises they had recently visited and where they were
working.
Some of them it was thought advisable to quarantine, and to pay
them each week in order to secure confinement to the house.
Where it was possible to re-vaccinate certain contacts and to disinfect
their clothes and bodies, we allowed them to follow their usual
occupations. No contact or person who was residing in a recently
infected house was allowed to continue their work at a laundry until
all danger from infection was over. In these cases the Council
sanctioned a weekly payment.
All recently infected houses were visited either by myself or the
Sanitary Inspectors day by day in order to deal promptly with any fresh
cases that might arise.
The number of contacts averaged about six to each case notified,
making a total of 180.