[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster].

  • St. Margaret & St. John, Westminster (London, England). Parish. Vestry.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

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

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/79 (page 18)
    18 three months; so that it would be well that all anti-toxin should be returned after it has been in stock for a period of three months. If, however, the anti-toxin is kept from the light and in a moderately cool place, it should be within 10 per cent. of its original strength at the end of this time. Conditions under which Anti-toxic Serum can be supplied gratis to medical men. The Clerk of the Metropolitan Asylums Board wrote stating— It having been found impossible to receive immediately into any of the Fever Hospitals under the control of this Board the case of diphtheria for whose removal application has been made, I forward herewith a Warrant for the delivery to the Medical Practitioner attending the case, upon application (not by post) to the Medical Superintendent of any of the Institutions named on the back thereof, of one bottle of anti-toxic serum for use in the treatment of the patient. Before the anti-toxic serum can be obtained, it will be necessary for the certificate at the foot of the Warrant to be signed. If a further supply of serum be required, application must be made for another Warrant. Enteric or Typhoid Fever. During the year 29 cases of this disease were notified, com pared with 33 last year. Of these nine occurred in St. Margaret's parish, and 20 in St. John's. Five deaths occurred, compared with ten last year. I think every sanitary authority has taken to heart the lessons which have been taught during the year by the epidemics of this disease at Maidstone, Lynn, Clifton and Camborne. Whether enteric fever is solely a water-borne disease or not it seems pretty certain that sewer air will act as a pre disposing agent even if it is not proved to be in many cases the cause of the disease. In the Maidstone epidemic various opinions are given—one authority maintaining that the cause of the outbreak was a polluted water supply, another that it was caused. by the bad drainage of the houses in the town. Dr. Washbourn, who made a bacteriological examination of the Maidstone water supply, says in his report:—The diffi culties of discovering the typhoid bacillus in drinking water