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18 persons notified to me as Chicken Pox were actually suffering from Small-pox.
Some were adults and some were young children. I immediately communicated
with the doctors in attendance in each case, and tried to persuade them to alter the
notification certificates and substitute Small-pox for Chicken Pox. The doctor in
attendance in each case refused, and maintained that he was still of opinion that the
case was one of Chicken Pox and not Small-pox. I was therefore reluctantly compelled
to remove the patients against their wish to the Small-pox Hospitals.
My opinion was confirmed by the Metropolitan Asylums Board officials in each
instance. These 18 cases were directly responsible for another 25 persons contracting
the disease in the same families.
1,548 cases were notified. 543 occurred in the Limehouse District; 317 in St.
George's District; 543 in Mile End District; and 362 in the Whitechapel District.
Zymotic Diseases.
The total deaths from Zymotic diseases numbered 868. This number corresponds
to a death-rate of 2.88 per 1,000 of the population. This number includes :
Small-pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Whooping Cough, Diphtheria, Croup, Enteric
Fever, Puerperal Fever, and Diarrhoea.
201 occurred in the Limehouse District, or at the rate of 3.46 per 1,000 of
the population.
132 occurred in the St. George's District, or at the rate of 2.65 per 1,000 of
the population.
322 occurred in the Mile End District, or at the rate of 2.83 per 1,000 of
the population.
214 occurred in the Whitechapel District, or at the rate of 2.70 per 1,000 of
the population.
Phthisis.
The question of the advisability of making Phthisis a notifiable disease was discussed
by the Public Health Committee. I supplied a sub-committee, appointed to
go into the matter, with a report of the results obtained in the various towns and
districts where voluntary notification was in force, and the opinions of the Medical
Officers of those districts, as to whether any benefits had been derived by its adoption.
After fully considering the matter, the Committee reported that where voluntary
notification had been adopted, it was still in an experimental stage, and they therafore
decided to postpone making any recommendation; although the Committee
thought that the distribution of literature on the subject might be continued
with advantage.