London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Stepney 1904

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Stepney]

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16
one bed. Bovier was put in one of these rooms. He was thus partly isolated,
but not completely so, inasmuch as the nurse that attended to him, nursed
other patients as well. There was also direct communication with the general
ward. He was discharged from the Hospital on March 12th. Bovier was thus
an in-patient for 18 days, which included a period of a fortnight during which
the rash was perceptible. Immediately on learning these facts, I visited 140,
Sydney Street, but was informed that Bovier was out, selling oilcloth in the
streets. I carefully examined the rest of the family, and found that two of the
three children showed signs of a rash, which in my opinion was due to Small
Pox. Mrs. Bovier informed me that the eldest boy, aged 7, had a rash on
March 8th, when she took him to the Hospital. He was examined in the
Receiving Room, and Mrs. Bovier was told that he was suffering from Chicken
Pox. The mother took him again on March 10th, when he was seen by a
different medical man. The latter confirmed the diagnosis, and gave the
patient some medicine. A rash appeared on the baby, aged 5 months, a day
afterwards. He was seen on one occasion by a local medical man. At the
time of my visit on March 16th I thought both were in an infectious condition,
and I removed them to the Small Pox Hospital. A few hours later I was able
to discover the father. He was even then in an infectious condition, and was
removed to the Small Pox Hospital, where he was detained for a period of
three weeks. The third child, aged 5, escaped. He was the only vaccinated
child in the family. On the following day May Groom, aged 30, was removed to
the Small Pox Hospital from the same address. Two other cases in the ward
at the London Hospital showed suspicious signs of Small Pox. I advised their
removal to the Small Pox Hospital, which was done. All the patients in the
two wards where Bovier had been, were offered re-vaccination. All consented
to have it done, with the exception of one man, who had been re-vaccinated some
time previously. No fresh patients were admitted, and none discharged from
these two wards, for a period of a fortnight. I obtained the addresses of all
the patients that had been discharged from these two wards during the previous
fortnight, and kept them under supervision. No other cases occurred in these
wards. Other cases occurred in another borough through coming in contact
with Edward Bovier.
On April 14th Richard Ryder, aged 9, and Elizabeth Ryder, aged 8, of
59, Brook Street, were removed to the Small Pox Hospital. On the following
day their mother, and on April 16th Emily Ryder, aged 6, were also removed.
The mother had been vaccinated in infancy, but neither of the children had
been vaccinated.