Report on the epidemic of smallpox 1901-2 in the Borough of Lambeth.

  • Lambeth (London, England)
Date:
[1902]
Catalogue details

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

Credit: Report on the epidemic of smallpox 1901-2 in the Borough of Lambeth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Ages. Feb. Mar. April. May. June. July. August. Total. 0-1 6 11 10 17 19 7 8 78 1—2 8 16 11 17 18 15 9 94 2—3 6 13 13 14 20 12 11 89 3—4 10 27 13 19 19 13 10 111 4-5 21 26 15 24 35 15 10 146 5—6 20 36 18 29 38 10 11 162 6—7 11 13 11 10 29 14 7 95 7—8 5 10 8 9 18 5 6 60 8-9 2 5 2 7 4 2 3 25 9-10 4 3 6 3 6 5 — 27 10—11 1 5 2 2 2 1 13 11—12 2 3 2 3 4 3 — 17 12 and over 17 4 7 15 11 12 5 71 Totals 113 172 116 169 223 115 80 988 All the 937 Chickenpox-infected houses, in which the 988 cases occurred, were visited, and the usual precautions as to isola- tion disinfection, etc., carried out, whilst, as Chickenpox is a rare diseasa in adult life, and may be at that age-period more readily mistaken for modified Smallpox, the 71 cases notified amongst adults (12 years and over) were the subject of special investigation and examination by the Medical Officer. Four cases notified as Chickenpox proved, on examination, to be Smallpox, but these cases would have been heard of without the compulsory notifica tion of the disease on account of the system of voluntary notifica tion of all doubtful or suspicious cases of spots,' which was in augurated in Lambeth Borough at the commencement of the epidemic. In the late epidemic (as far as Lambeth Borough is concerned) the compulsory notification of Chickenpox has proved practically useless, as well as being, in the opinion of your Medical Officer of Health, a needless expense, under the special circum stances mentioned. The practical difficulties in grappling with these large numbers of Chickenpox cases soon appeared, and the London County Council, on February 24th, 1902, appointed 37 medical men throughout the Administrative County of London to act as consultants or experts in connection with the diagnosis of doubtful cases of Smallpox, the London County Council to pay the fees (10s. 6d. for each case visited). The notification fee is, in addi- tion, 1s. each certificate, the Metropolitan Asylums Board, in a letter dated April 5th, giving the opinion that such experts act in a public capacity as Medical Officers of a public body. This action of the London County Council gave rise to a large amount of ill-feeling amongst the different Metropolitan Authorities, it