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Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health.—1898. 27
Special Report on a case of Typhus Fever notified in April, 1898.
I am happy to be able to report that the case of Mrs. E., of 20, Toulmin Street,
notified and removed to hospital with typhus fever on the 12th April last, has not
been followed by any spread of this extremely contagious and fatal disease.
The wisdom of Parliament in casting the duty of enforcing S. 60—(4) of the
Public Health (Lond.) Act, upon those responsible for the safeguarding of the health
of the people is, I think, sufficiently apparent in this case.
The section referred to, as your Vestry will remember, reads as follows:—
"The Sanitary Authority shall provide, free of charge, temporary shelter or house
accommodation, with any necessary attendants for the members of any family in
which any dangerous infectious disease has appeared, who have been compelled to
leave their dwellings for the purpose of enabling such dwellings to be disinfected by
the Sanitary Authority."
On the question of the usefulness of Eeception Houses in stamping out diseases
such as typhus, I cannot, perhaps, do better than quote the following passage from
the "Medical Press," which puts the matter—so to speak—in a nutshell:—
"Last Easter a case of typhus was reported in St. George's, Southwark. The
patient, a woman, contracted the disease from nursing the children of a family that
had been attacked in Kensington. The family she visited consisted of a man, wife,
and seven children, who all took the fever, together with the doctor and undertaker.
In another flat on the same floor lived three persons —father, mother, and child—
who were infected by a child of the former family sleeping there after the death of the
mother. Kensington, wealthy parish though it be, has no reception house for the
isolation of persons who have been exposed to infection. In striking contrast comes
tbe case of St. George's, Southwark, which has recently provided itself with a
substantial and well-appointed shelter of the kind. The parishioner was promptly
removed to the South Eastern Fever Hospital, and her husband quarantined for
fourteen days, while the premises were thoroughly cleansed. In the same house,
living in five small rooms, were four families, who were at once removed to the
reception house for two days and a night. Thanks to this radical and clear-sighted
policy, there can be little doubt that the poverty-stricken and densely-crowded parish
of St. George's has been saved from the disaster of an epidemic of typhus, whereas
unwise Kensington suffered to the extent of fourteen cases and three deaths, including
the medical attendant. The Southwark Vestry may be congratulated on the brilliant
success of their experiment."
To this I might add. that the Medical Officer of Health of Kensington,. in a
copy of a report he has been good enough to forward me, says he is of opinion that
Mrs. E., of 20, Toulmin Street, Southwark, "probably would have escaped taking
typhus, had it been possible to place her in a shelter whilst the rooms of the two
flats at Western Dwellings, Kensington, were being disinfected."
24th May, 1898.
The need of further free Public Lavatory Accommodation for
Women and Children.
The following communication and copy of letter have been received by me:—
London County Council,
Public Health Department,
Spring Gardens, S.W.,
8th July, 1898.
Re Public Conveniences for Women and Children in London.
Dear Sir,—
I am directed by a Committee of the Council to forward you for your information
the enclosed copy of a letter received by the Council from Mr, Gerald C. Parsons,