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64
PREVENTION OF THE SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS
DISEASES
Is one of the chief duties appertaining to the office I hold; and
it is one which constantly engages the attention of all the officers
in my Department. A difficulty with which we have to contend is
the want of information of the occurrence of illness—information
that would be of the greatest value, particularly at the commencement
of an epidemic, when the first cases are often mild, and,
therefore, not fatal. It has been my constant endeavour to increase
our sources of such information, and it may not be out of place
here to state what progress has been made:—
1. By virtue of an arrangement entered into between your Vestry and the
sub-district registrars, I receive notice of every death from the graver infectious
diseases (small-pox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhus, enteric and
simple continued fevers), within a few hours after registration. It may
be observed that when a death has occurred from an infectious disease
there is always a probability of finding cases of illness in the same house
or in the locality, and such discovery not unfrequently results from the
Sanitary Inspector's visit. Now and then the registration of a death has
been unduly delayed—sometimes apparently with the object of temporary
concealment of the cause of death. It would be well if registration
within a limited period, say twenty-four hours, were made compulsory.
2. The Relieving Officers, by direction of the Board of Guardians, report all
cases of infectious disease that come within their cognizance, and generally
these are cases that have been, or are about to be, removed to the
hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylum District, admission to which (practically
denied to no person) can only be obtained on the order of a relieving
officer, or the master of a workhouse.
3. Similar information is given by the Resident Medical Officer of the
sington Dispensary, by request of the Committee of Management. We
seldom hear of sickness through any similar institution; and it is a matter
of regret that many cases that ought to be removed to the hospitals
are treated at home by medical men attached to so-called "provident
dispensaries."
4. Medical men favour me occasionally with information of cases, especially
when they desire assistance in order to get patients (e.g., domestic
servants) removed to hospitals; or when they want the assistance of the
disinfecting staff
5. In my annual report for 1877, I referred to what I thought an important
step that had then lately been effected through the action of the London
School Board, which, at my request, had instructed the Superintendents
of Divisions throughout the Metropolis to desire the "Visitors" to report
to the several Medical Officers of Health all cases of infectious disease