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12
Small Pox.
From January to December we had 100 cases of Small Pox in Stepney.
247 belonged to the Limehouse District, with 1 death.
20 belonged to St. George-in-the-East, with no deaths.
20(S belonged to Mile End Old Town, with .1 death.
.15 belonged to the Whitechapel District, with no deaths.
The first case occurred in a patient who resided in St. Thomas Road. The
infection was contracted at the patient's place of employment as other cases
had occurred there within a short time. On January 30th a boy at a Hostel
was sent away with Small Pox. About 15 lads in the same hostel had a
history of having had an attack of influenza followed by a rash. They had all
returned to work by January 30th. On being examined four of them were
suffering from Small Pox. The inmates of the hostel, about 80 in number,
were all vaccinated and no further eases occurred there. Unfortunately, however,
the infected lads had been to cincmas in the district and we were able to
trace 8 cases due to direct contact with them at these places. From these 8
cases, five further or secondary cases developed.
A second centre of infection was that of a large wholcseale provision
premises in the Borough. The first case was a boy who contracted the disease
in another Borough, where he lived. He was at work on January 18th when the
rash appeared. Following this case eleven other cases occurred, two of whom
lived in our district. All the persons who contracted the disease were
unprotected by vaccination.
In the present outbreak of Small Pox all the cases have been mild. The
infcctivity has varied considerably. In some instances it has been very high;
in others it has been very low.
Small Pox has been frequently mistaken for Chicken Pox, but during this
outbreak many cases have been diagnosed as Influenza. The late Dr. D. L.
Thomas issued a letter to every doctor in the Borough calling his attention to
this fact. The symptoms at the onset of the disease resemble those of
Influenza. When the Small Pox rash appears the temperature generally
becomes normal and the patient feels very much better. The result has been
that sometimes the doctor has not been informed of the appearance of a rash
and he has given up visiting the patient.
On May (5th Chicken Pox became a notifiable disease in this Borough
Up to the 31st December we have had 820 notifications of Chicken Pox. 11
eases proved to be Small Pox.