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on the 13th or 14th February. One of those missing
cases may perhaps' have passed through the Sailors Hostel
in Stepney and infected the patient.
A large number of contacts at the Mile End Hospital
and at the Sailors Hostel were offered vaccination and
many hundreds were Vaccinated. The contacts were kept
under daily supervision and the Medical Officers of
Health of the districts where some of then resided were
. fully informed.
Case II. H.S. aged 34 (mild onset 16th' March). On
the 21st March,, I was called to examine one of the contacts
at the hospital and diagnosed him to bo suffering
from smallpox. This man who occupied the sane ward as
patient No. I had been vaccinated in infancy and again
(after the diagnosis of Case No.1) on the 9th March, too
late to prevent the development of the disease. He had
been infected by the first case and was immediately removed
to a smallpox hospital, where he made an uneventful
recovery.
•' • 1
The Ministry of Health and the London County Council
were duly informed of both cases.
The Mile End Hospital was for a while closed to
further admissions and to visitors.
Both these cases, one in a hostel for 300 sailors and
the other in a large general hospital, occurred under
conditions where a serious spread of the infection might
have been expected. That the outbreak was confined to
two cases and successfully controlled was due in no small
measure to the assistance given me by the Medical Superintendent
and staff of the Mile End Hospital and the
Warden and staff of the Empire Memorial Hostel. I would
like to express my thanks to Dr. Morgan, Medical Officer
to the Port Health Authority, and to his inspectors who
gave me invaluable assistance in the follow-up of the
seamen-contacts of the first case.
On the night the disease was first diagnosed over 300
sailors were vaccinated between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. by the
Medical Officers of the Public Health Department and the
Public Vaccinators assisted by the Public Health Department
staff. Some 600 potential hospital contacts and
staff were vaccinated by the Medical Superintendent at
Mile End Hospital.
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