[Report 1894] / Medical Officer of Health, Doncaster County Borough.

  • Doncaster (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

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

Credit: [Report 1894] / Medical Officer of Health, Doncaster County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    separating the infected persons from the rest of the household until the patient is not only better in himself, but until he has lost the power of infecting others. This last condition is far too often lost sight of, especially if the attack has been mild and other cases follow, which in their turn may be far more severe. A large number of articles (1010) of bedding, clothing, &c., were disinfected last year, and the care taken in removing them in one van and, after disinfection, returned in a separate van, insures that no possibility of infection remains. We find now less objection to the disinfection of the bedding, clothes, &c., by steam, when the illness is entirely over. This disinfection the law has made compulsory, and the apparatus provided is most effectual, without in any way injuring the materials. Among the 25 cases of enteric fever reported there were 6 deaths, a percentage higher than during the previous year, or the usual average death-rate in other places. Nine of the cases were treated at the Hospital, and 2 at the Workhouse. At only 2 houses was there a second case. An inquiry was made as to the possible origin of each case. Four of these began to be ill with fever on recovering from a previous illness, in 5 cases the . previous history showed that there was a great probability of the illness having been contracted away from Doncaster, in 4 cases the local sanitary matters were so defective as likely to cause injury to health, but in the remaining cases no clue could be had as to a cause for the disease beginning. The larger number of cases was in the same ward where so many cases of this fever occurred in the previous year, but cases were reported this year more equally from each of the six wards. Disinfection. Enteric fever.