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17
SMALL-POX.
Some 74 cases were certified as small-pox in the metropolis during 1905. They
were most numerous in Stepney, Camberwell, Lewisham, and Woolwich. The deaths
numbered 10, the death-rate being 0.002 per 1,000 population.
In Shoreditch 2 cases were certified. The first was that of an infant about a year old.
It was taken ill towards the end of January and died after about ten days' illness, during
the course of which an eruption appeared which was thought to be that of small-pox. The
notification certificate was not received until after the child's death. The body was removed
to the mortuary, where, after a careful examination, it became clear that the cause
of death was not small-pox. The child had probably been the victim of a variety of
chicken-pox which is occasionally met with, in which the eruption assumes a bullous
character, the vesicles being considerably larger than those ordinarily met with in chickenpox,
looking, in fact, like small blisters. Just before the child was taken ill another
child in the house had had a slight attack of chicken-pox.
The second case was a genuine one of small-pox. The patient, a young man, 21
years of age, employed at a pork butcher's in Hoxton, was taken ill on June 12th, the
eruption showing itself on June 14th. The patient was unvaccinated. The disease
assumed the confluent type and terminated fatally. The usual precautions as to removal
to hospital, disinfection, vaccination and re-vaccination were taken. . Persons
resident in three households in Shoreditch had been more or less exposed to
infection, but no secondary cases occurred. Nothing could be ascertained to throw
light upon the source of infection.
VACCINATION.
The latest official figures published with the supplement containing the report of
the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board for 1903-04 are for the year 1902.
In Shoreditch the number of children not finally accounted for as regards vaccination
during that year amounted to 36.1 per cent. of the children born during the year as
compared with 44.4 in 1901. The cases in which vaccination was postponed are included
in calculating this percentage. The number in respect to which conscientious
objection certificates were granted by magistrates was twelve, being 0.3 per cent., which
was the same as in 1901. During the last two years (1901 and 1902) there appears to
have been a marked increase in the number of vaccinations performed in Shoreditch.
Small-pox was, however, prevalent in the Borough during the early part of 1902. which
doubtless accounts for the very considerable increase in the number of vaccinations
during that year.
The figures as to vaccination in Shoreditch for previous years are contained in my
annual report for 1903.