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14
Remarks on Infectious Diseases.
Small-Pox.— No death was registered in either of the
parishes during the year. Of the six cases notified (St. John's
Parish), five occurred at Common Lodging-houses and one at
a private house, the patient in the latter case having been
employed in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel, where there
was an outbreak of this disease. In this case four persons
living in the same house as the man attacked were removed
to the Vestry's Reception Rooms in Horseferry-road and the
premises (13, Frederick-street) thoroughly fumigated. The
patient stated that he suffered from a modified form of Smallpox
seven years ago.
With regard to the five cases occurring at the Common
Lodging-houses in Great Peter-street and 6, Great Smithstreet,
great difficulty was experienced in tracing where the
patients had slept after they had noticed a rash on their
bodies. In one case the man had slept at no less than five
different places since he noticed a rash on his body. In
another case the man when the rash was observed by the
keeper of the lodging-house ran away, but was subsequently
caught and removed to a Small-pox Hospital. In each of
these cases the patients were removed to Isolation Hospitals
and the rooms, bedding, &c., thoroughly disinfected. Notifications
were sent to each Medical Officer of Health in whose
district the patients had previously slept, and also to the
Vaccination Officer.
A special report of the cases was also sent to the Medical
Officer of the Local Government Board.
Scarlet Fever.—From this disease nine deaths were registered,
two occurring in St. Margaret's Parish and seven in St.
John's Parish; 81 cases were notified in St. Margaret's and
102 in St. John's, making a total of 183. In 1894 eight deaths
were registered from this disease and 151 notifications were
received. On two occasions during the year the relation of
school attendance as a factor in the spread of infectious disease
has received attention. In the first case, at St. Margaret's
School, out of 20 cases of Scarlet Fever occurring in June and
July, 13 were cases of children attending this school; the
disease abated directly the holidays commenced. In the
second case, namely, that of James-street Board School,
especially in the Infant's department, it was observed that 11
out of 12 cases of Scarlet Fever notified between September
8th and October 4th were those of children attending this