London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

West Ham 1893

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]

This page requires JavaScript

8
management of the domestic arrangements—which meeting being fully reported in the press, led to considerable
correspondence, From this time I found it increasingly difficult to remove cases into the hospital,
with the natural result that many remained at home forming separate centres of infection throughout the
Borough. This led to a considerable increase in the number of cases. On April 16th of the present year, at
the request of the Town Clerk, I accompanied him to a meeting of the Small-pox Committee of the Metropolitan
Asylums Board who undertook to remove cases of small-pox from West Ham to their hospital ships
on terms which were reported to and accepted by the Council By this arrangement we were enabled to
obtain prompt removal of all cases from the Borough, though not until I had obtained a magistrate's order
for removal in four cases. A steady decrease in the cases occurred during the end of May and the month of
June, and at the time of writing the epidemic has ceased, and our hospital finally closed.

I am indebted to the medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Moir, for the following experiences of mortality and vaccination associated with the cases treated in the hospital during the epidemic.

Condition as to Vaccination.Percentage of Deaths.
Unvaccinated35 per cent.
Said to have been vaccinated, but with no marks23'57
Imperfectly vaccinated11 „
Showing good marks401 „
,, 2 ,,2.5 „
„ 3 „1.9 „
„4 „.55 „
Re-vaccinated0 „

During the epidemic, as will be seen by the list on p. 40, several cases were admitted into our hospital
at the request of neighbouring sanitary authorities, until the strain upon the accommodation arising from
the spread of the disease in our own Borough rendered it impossible to further relieve outlying districts.
Eighty cases were admitted from East Ham, nine from Leyton, and five from Walthamstow.
Hospital Accommodation.—The required provision for the isolation of fevers and small-pox
received considerable attention during the year. A conference of the Urban Sanitary Authorities
comprised in the West Ham Union was invited by the Mayor to meet at the Town Hall. The conference
was held on February 17th, when Dr. Barry, of the Local Government Board, attended and gave the
Council the benefit of his experience. The object of the Council was primarily to invite the other sanitary
authorities to combine for the purpose of treating small-pox, leaving each authority free to deal with the
other infectious diseases occurring in its district; but after discussion, a resolution was carried, " That it is
desirable to unite in providing a hospital or hospitals for infectious diseases other than small-pox," the
desirability to combine for purposes of small-pox having been previously accepted.