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55
disease in Willesden, it was tolerably certain she had contracted
it from her husband, as he was ill at that time with symptoms
indistinguishable from those of small pox. There could, in the
light of the nature of his wife's illness, be no doubt that the
nature of his attack was also small pox.
On October 19th, no fewer than seven persons living at Yilliers
Road developed symptons of influenza which were looked upon by
the attending practitioners as gravely suspicious of smallpox. On
the 21st I was asked to see one of the patients, a baby, who had
just developed a few spots sufficient to make the diagnosis of small
pox almost a certainty. On the morning of the 22nd I again saw
the patients with one of the attending practitioners, when the
diagnosis of small pox was practically certain in the case of all the
patients, although the eruption was only just beginning to appear
in some, while in others it was still invisible.
14 persons were known to have been in contact with one or
other of these cases, and of these, five subsequently developed the
disease while under observation.
The early intimation, prompt isolation of the patients, and
vaccination or re-vaccination and segregation of the contacts were
successful in checking the further spread of the disease.