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14
NOTIFIABLE DISEASES.
Small Pox.—Only eight cases of this disease were notified
during the year, two of which on removal to hospital were stated not
to be small-pox; and after being vaccinated were sent home. None
of the six real cases were fatal. The following are the particulars
of these cases as to vaccination, etc., as far as could be ascertained:—
Date Notified.
March 2nd.—N.Y., female, aged 20. Vaccinated in infancy, three marks. Source
of disease, a visit to a friend who was suffering from small-pox.
April 8th.—E.W., female, aged 4. Not vaccinated. Source of disease, unknown.
April 14th.—E.B., female, aged 3½. State of vaccination, unknown. Source of
disease, unknown.
May 18th.—P.F.B., male, aged 15 years. Vaccinated, four marks. Stated to
have had small-pox four years previously. Source of disease,
unknown.
August 6th.—W.W., male, aged 28, Vaccinated, but number of marks not
known. Business, a rag sorter. Source of disease, supposed to
have been infected rags.
August 18th.—I.W., female, aged 23, wife of the last case. State of vaccination,
not known. Source of disease, nursing her husband, who was
suffering from small-pox, prior to his removal to hospital.
All of these cases except one was removed to hospital, and all
the clothing and bedding exposed to infection were disinfected with
high-pressure steam. The rooms occupied by the patients were
fumigated with sulphur fumes, the walls and ceilings stripped of
their paper and washed with carbolic lotion, the ceilings being
afterwards whitened, and the floors well cleaned. In the exceptional
case isolation was rigidly maintained, and on recovery, the room
occupied by the patient was subject to the same mode of disinfection
as the other cases.
Under these measures, although the disease was introduced two
or three times during 1896, it did not obtain any hold upon the
district.
Scarlatina.—The year 1896 was noted in Hackney for an
excessive number of cases of this disease, no less than 1492 being
notified. The deaths amongst these cases amounted to 61. The