View report page

10
in front of the houses, but as only one case occurred in each house
or in the neighbourhood, this could scarcely be the cause. In
another a builder was said to have contracted the disease from
superintending drain work. There were several instances of
persons coming home ill with the disease, viz., from Twickenham,
Margate, the Boys' Home at Bow, and from Dulwich. There
was not any instance of a second case occurring in the same
house, or of an endemic in any street, the cases being scattered
nearly all over the district. Twenty-eight of the patients were
females, and twenty-three males.
The number of houses in which diphtheria occurred was 18.
In 14 of these no defects in the water-supply apparatus or drainage
were discovered, but in two the drains were defective, and
allowed the entrance of sewer gas into the houses, and in two
others there were overflow pipes from the cisterns which were
connected with the drains. There was only one case in each
house.
In August last I reported to you the occurrence of numerous
cases of severe diarrhcea, vomiting and prostration from eating
dripping sold by an itinerant vendor. My attention was directed
to the cases by the medical attendant of two families who thought
they had been poisoned by impure water. I inspected the houses
and heard the accounts given by the parents, when I came to the
conclusion, as the drainage and water supply were good, that the
disease was caused by eating dripping bought at the door. I
called, so far as I know, at all the houses where the dripping had
been supplied, and found 29 cases living in four streets, two at
a rather considerable distance from the others. Nearly all suffered
who partook of it, and there were no similar cases amongst the
residents of these streets except those just mentioned. The
symptoms were great prostration, severe vomiting and purging,
cramp, severe pain in the stomach, great subsequent debility,
and in some cases fever, lasting for several days. There was
only one death, viz., that of an infant who was suckling, but