Dr. Parsons's report to the local government board on scarlet fever in the Huntingdon registration district.

  • Parsons, H. Franklin.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. Parsons's report to the local government board on scarlet fever in the Huntingdon registration district. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Re commendations. Huntingdon Urban District. 1. Hospital accommodation should be made available for the lodgment of persons suffering from infectious diseases who cannot be properly treated at their own homes. The Authority are fortunate in possessing at any rate an excellent site for a hospital, but if the present building be retained it will require considerable alterations to render it suitable for the purpose. The Authority will do well to be guided in the matter by the opinion of their Medical Officer of Health and of an architect who has paid attention to ho,- pi- tal construction. Proper arrangements should be made for the management of the hospital and the care of the patients. In connexion with the hospital should be provided an ambulance for the conveyance of patients, and an oven for the disinfection of clothing and bedding by heat. The latter (with due precautions in the removal) might also be made available for the disinfection of the clothing and bedding of cases treated at home. 2. The disinfection, by fumigation and otherwise, of dwellings invaded by scarlet fever, and of articles therein likely to retain infection, should in every case be carefully carried out under medical supervision. 3. Persons exposing themselves in public places while suffering from dangerous infectious disease should be proceeded against under § 126 of the Public Health Act, 1875. 4. The abatement of nuisances, excremental and other, should receive the careful attention of the Authority. Diligent inspection should be made, especially of the parts of the borough inhabited by the poorer classes, and a record kept of nuisances observed, with a view to follow them up until abated. Surface cleanliness should receive attention. Privies and ashpits which from position or construction give rise to nuisance should be removed or altered. An adequate number of privies should be provided. The removal of excrement and house refuse should be undertaken by the Authority, and carried out frequently and regularly. Care should be taken that, in the erection of new privies and ashpits and in the alteration of existing ones, the receptacles are made water-tight, and of a size no greater than is necessary to contain the accumulation which may collect during the intervals of scavenging. For the principles which should be observed in the construction and management of privies the Authority should consult the Report to the Local Government Board “ On certain means of preventing excrement nuisances in towns and villages.” 5. Further ventilation should be provided for the public sewers. Private drains should also be ventilated and disconnected from the interior of houses. 6. Byelaws should be made with respect to such matters as the Authority are empowered by the Public Health Act to regulate, and more especially with regard to the erection of new buildings, in order to avoid the repetition in the future of such errors in construction as are to be found in many of the existing houses in Huntingdon. The Town Council will do well to adopt the Model Byelaws issued by the Local Government Board, with such adaptations as local circumstances may render necessary or desirable. Godmancliester Urban District. 1. All houses which, from faulty construction, want of ventilation, or disrepair, are in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious to health, should be closed until they have been rendered fit for habitation. Such as cannot be rendered fit for habitation should not be suffered to be occupied. Steps should be taken to put. down overcrowding. 2. Byelaws should be adopted with regard to the prevention of nuisances, the construction of new buildings, and the regulation of common lodging- houses and slaughter-houses. The Model Byelaws of the Local Govern- ment Board should be consulted. 3. Constant attention should be paid to the sewers to keep them in working order and free from deposit. Proper ventilation should be provided for them, and all direct communication between the interior of houses and the drains should be severed. The question of providing more efficient sewers with a better outfall should receive the consideration of the Town Council.