View report page

6
Small-pox was present in the District to an extent which gave me
considerable anxiety. I think perhaps I may best place on record the
chief facts concerning the outbreak by reproducing the Tables of cases
which accompanied my Reports to your Board. Copies of these Reports
and the sheets referred to were forwarded to the Local Government
Board. With the cases recorded upon these sheets the outbreak
terminated. Several cases were subsequently notified, but they proved
upon further investigation not to have been Small-pox.
SMALL-POX IN WHITECHAPEL.
Beport to the Board of Tforks for the Whitechapel District presented by
the Medical Officer of Health on Monday, August 19th, 1895:—
On Monday, the 22nd ultimo, I reported to your Board that Small-pox had
appeared in the Whitechapel District in such numbers as to threaten an
epidemic of the disease.
Your Board having discussed the subject, referred the consideration to a
special Sanitary Meeting to be convened on Wednesday, the 24th, at, 6 p.m.
Power to act as they deemed necessary was given to the Committee.
The Sanitary Committee met as arranged, and Messrs. Stephens and Lamb
from the Salvation Army were present on the invitation of the Committee.
These gentlemen agreed to assist the Officers of the Board in every way with
a view to counteract the risk of spreading Small-pox through the medium of the
occupants of their shelters. With this intent it was arranged that after that
night no persons should be admitted into their shelters who were not in the possession
of tickets: this would eliminate a danger from the presence of strangers
who might come from other spheres of contagion. It was also agreed that
certain proceedings as regards daily and special disinfection should be conducted
under the inspection of the officers of the Board. They also undertook that no
person apparently suffering from Small-pox should be allowed to go into the
public thoroughfares, but that such person should be isolated, and when seen by
a Medical man should be treated as directed by such Medical practitioner.
On the following day I reported the outbreak of the epidemic to the Secretary
of the Local Government Board, to whom a few davs later your Clerk reported
th« result of your deliberation, and he also sent a copy of a resolution which you
passed with reference to the influence Salvation Army Shelters exercised upon
the District, and the desire of your Board was conveyed to the Local Government
Board that some legislation might be provided to place these shelters upon
the same footing as the Registered Common Lodging-houses. These houses are
under certain regulations which are framed under the Lodging-houses Acts.
These regulations are now administered by the London County Council. It
is felt that shelters which are in themselves totally unsuitable for the purpose,
and into which large numbers of the lowest class of persons are crowded, must
influence very adversely the health of the District generally. At present, in the
absence of regulations, it would be difficult to obtain a conviction before a
Magistrate in a prosecution for overcrowding, because those allowances of space
which can be enforced in the case of Registered Common Lodging-houses, are
thought by many to be too liberal to be applied to Philanthropic Shelters.
On August the 2nd a letter was received from the Secretary of the Local
Government Board addressed to your Clerk. It called attention to the fact that
Small-pox was on the increase in the Metropolis, and it pointed out that the
season of the year was not the season when a large increase usually took place.
The Board was then requested to instruct the Medical Officer of Health to visit all
cases of Small-pox, and " to take such measures as may be necessary to secure
"as far as practicable the isolation of the patient, the vaccination of any persons
"who may have been exposed to infection, and the disinfection of the premises,
"and any further action which the circumstances will admit of for the purpose
"of checking the extension of the disease." The Secretary, in conclusion,
adds:—" The Board deem it desirable that the authority should, as regards each
"case, be informed precisely of the measures which have been taken by the
"Medical Officer of Health, and they will be glad to bo furnished witli copies of
"the Reports which are made by him on the subject."