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Diphtheria.
The attack rate of this disease is still very high, and has
again this year been the cause of many deaths and much sickness.
The Council have now granted facilities for any child to be inoculated
against diphtheria (see also page 82), and notices to this
effect are displayed in the Clinics. The response of the parents
however is very discouraging.
Smallpox.
An outbreak of smallpox occurred in the Northern part of
the Borough during October. The first case (a girl of 17) was
living over a pawnbroker's shop, and I was called to this case by
a general practitioner. On examining the other members of the
family I found a sister (aged 15 years) of the patient to be also
suffering from smallpox. It was elicited that these girls were
employed at a dressmaking establishment in the Romford Road.
Other investigations resulted in no fewer than six cases, including
the proprietress of the dressmaking establishment, being
removed to the Smallpox Hospital, from various addresses, within
a few hours of the first case having been seen. A number of
other contacts developed the disease, but the outbreak was
rapidly stamped out within a few weeks.
In November a quite independent outbreak of the disease
occurred in Platts Buildings, a big block of dwellings many
storeys high, and densely inhabited by very poor people. The
first three cases were seen by myself, after having been treated for
Influenza for over a week. No source of infection could be traced.
On the same day I discovered three other cases in the
same buildings, and these six cases were removed to the hospital
forthwith. The disease spread for a time, and many employees
of a factory in the district were affected. A supplementary vaccination
centre was set up in the area, and many took the
opportunity of being vaccinated. The last case was notified on
December 28th, over three months having elapsed without
any further case occurring in this district which has a population
of many thousands.
At the time of writing smallpox is still present,
chiefly in the Canning Town Ward, and though the outbreak is
well in hand it is extraordinarily difficult to entirely prevent contagion
amongst a huge over-crowded, unvaccinated population,
more particularly as the disease is of such a mild type. Incidentally
not a single person who had been vaccinated within the past
10 years contracted smallpox.
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