[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Enfield UDC 1910].

  • Enfield (London, England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Enfield UDC 1910]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    “ parts of the Town and on leaving expressed himself as perfectly “ satisfied that everything necessary to meet the case was being done. “ I conclude this report by quoting a paragraph from a report “ made by me to you on March 9th, which emphasises a point not “ generally appreciated by the public. “ 1 My experience in connection with Diphtheria has more and “ c more forced me to the conclusion that it is to personal contact “ 1 rather than to any general or local insanitary conditions that we “ ‘ must look for the determining factor in this disease, and that the “ 1 few cases which now and again still crop up are due to that cause.’ ” “ May 25th, 1910. “ You will, no doubt, note with satisfaction that only one case “ of Diphtheria has been notified during the past fortnight, bringing the number for the month of May so far up to four, and a total “ since April 27th of five, with no deaths. “ You may remember that on March 9th, I made a special report dealing with a series of cases of Diphtheria, which in my “ opinion tended to show that the factor of personal contact was a “ most important one, and I now propose reporting further on this, “ and to show the steps your sanitary officials take in order to meet “ the danger, and prevent as far as is possible the spread of the “ disease. “ When a case of Diphtheria is notified, the house is at once “ visited and full inquiries made, a special form being used for the “ purpose. All necessary steps are taken to secure the isolation of “ the patient either by immediate removal to Hospital or otherwise, “ disinfectants are supplied, also the necessary examination and “ disinfection of premises carried out. Other children in the house “ are excluded from school, and all other precautions which may in “ my opinion be necessary are at once carried out. All information “ obtained is immediately followed up, and in every case necessary I u either interview the medical man in attendance or visit the house, “ in order to obtain swabs of all contacts and suspicious cases. The “ question of school attendance at the same time receives my close “ attention. “ Inquiries are also made daily at any school implicated, and by “ arrangement with the teachers all children absent from school u through illness or uncertain cause are at once reported to me,