[Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Whitby U.D.C.

  • Whitby (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Whitby U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which was quite capable of setting up considerable Gastric Irritation, and which would probably account for the cases of Diarrhcea and Sickness which were not Typhoid, but were mixed up in the same house where the Typhoid cases were. 1 he definite cases had been infected about 3 weeks before I had any information to work on. Allowing a fortnight for the incubation, and a week after the first symptoms before the cases were recognised, as I have evidence of sewage contamination of the water that was used for all purposes in the yard, I think that there can be very little doubt that, about three weeks before this outbreak, there had been contamination of the milk which was capable of pro¬ ducing Typhoid. All the cases were infected in the course of two or three days, and there has not been anything of the kind again. I shall take care that in future the water-tank, which I think has been the cause of all the trouble, is regularly cleaned out and limewashed. I think the inter¬ mittent water supply is a source of danger, as a vacuum is created in the pipes, which must, of necessity, suck in any dangerous material if there is a leakage in the pipe, and this is in contact with a dangerous material. The second outbreak was in the Workhouse, and the first case was a woman, who had been an inmate of the Workhouse for some time, but had been out on the “road ’’ from August 28th to August 31st. She first felt sick on September 18th, and went about for some time before she was suspected of being the victim of Typhoid. She was notified on October 19th, and removed to the Hospital the same day. The second case was notified on November 6th, and she had been sick and seedy for some time before she said anything about it. She had been in the wash-house, where the other women’s clothes were washed, and had probably helped to wash them. On November 9th, a small boy, whom the last- named had been nursing while she was seedy, was notified. The next case was notified on November 29th, and again this was from the woman’s end of the Workhouse, and she also had been employed in the wash-house, and on the same day the child of the second case was notified. Then, on December 5th, another child was notified, who had come from the same part of the house. It seemed to me likely that these cases had all been infected in some way or other from one another, but, as a matter of precaution, I had the milk supply and the two water supplies analysed, and got an entirely negative result, except about the supply of water, which is pumped up from a well, and this was reported to be slightly contaminated, but not with Typhoid. I found that the water supply goes into two open cisterns, and does