[Report 1912] / Medical Officer of Health, Cardiff Port Sanitary Authority.

  • Cardiff Port Sanitary Authority (Cardiff, Wales) n 2006181154.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1912] / Medical Officer of Health, Cardiff Port Sanitary Authority. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/80 (page 15)
    Typhoid Fever. The Ward at the Hospital was subsequently disinfected, and a quantity of bedding, together with the patient’s effects, were removed for disinfection. On the 16th December, E.D., age 17 years, ordinary seaman on board the French vessel “ Notre Dame de Bon Secours,” lying in the West Bute Dock, was removed to the Royal Hamadryad Seamen’s Hospital, and on the 21st December, the Medical Superintendent notified the case as Typhoid Fever. The crew space on board the ship was disinfected, and the patient’s effects were removed for disinfection. The water casks were also emptied and cleansed. MEASLES.—On the 25th April, D.J.M., age 25 years, a seaman on board the British s.s. “ Collingwood,” lying in the East Bute Dock, was admitted into the Royal Hamadryad Seamen’s Hospital, suffering from Influenza, and on the 30th April, the Medical Superintendent reported that the patient had developed Measles, he was forthwith removed to the Isolation Hospital of the City Sanatorium. His effects, together with a quantity of bedding, etc., from the Hospital were removed for disinfection. The crew spaces on board the ship were also disinfected. On the 30th May, C.N., age 22 years, a seaman on board the British s.s. “ Helen,” lying in the West Bute Dock, was taken ill, and the following morning, the patient was found to be suffering from Measles. He was forthwith removed to the Isolation Hospital of the City Sanatorium. His ■effects were removed for disinfection, and the crew spaces on board the ship were disinfected. This vessel arrived in Cardiff on the 29th May, from Devonport via Porthoustock. The patient evidently contracted the disease at the latter port. SMALL POX.—On the 9th December, the British s.s. “ Ladvkirk,” on passing Barry Island for Cardiff, signalled for medical assistance. Dr. Walker was instructed by the owners to meet the steamer in Penarth Roads, being under the impression that an accident had occurred on board. On boarding the vessel, he was informed that John Richards, age 47 years, third engineer, was unwell. Upon examination he found the man suffering from Small-Pox, and promptly notified the case to me. By this means I was enabled to arrange for the removal of the case to the City Small-Pox Hospital immediately upon the arrival of the vessel at the Dock Entrance. My Assistant, Dr. A. F. Bernard Shaw, visited the ship and examined every person on board, nineteen in all ; these were found to be in good health. With the exception of one of the crew, who had previously suffered from Small Pox. All these persons were re-vaccinated on the following day. The infected articles and portion of the vessel occupied by the patient were disinfected, and the crew kept under daily medical observation. The case of Small Pox proved to be of a severe •confluent type, the patient never having been vaccinated, the illness apparently dating from about the 3rd or 4th December. The disease was evidently contracted in Seville, Spain, at which port the vessel stayed from the 15th to the 22nd November. She left Seville on that date, arriving at Ayr, N.B., on December 1st, leaving for Cardiff on the 7th, and arriving at this port on the 9th. With the exception of this case of Small Pox, there was no history of any other illness on board during the voyage. I communicated with the Medical Officer of Health for Ayr, and on the 12th December, wrote to the Medical Officer of Health for the Port of Gibraltar that the vessel had left for that port. No further infection of Small Pox has occurred in connection with this case since the departure of the vessel for Gibraltar on the 12th. On the 10th December, 1912, I received a communication from the Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow, to the effect that a case of Small-Pox was removed to the Ayr Hospital on the 6th December. The patient was a fireman on board the British s.s. “ Cordova,” from Seville, and was taken ill on the 1st December. In all probability, both these cases owe their origin to the same source. The s.s. “ Cordova ” arrived in Cardiff on the 13th December, when the crew were examined by Dr. Shaw and found to be well. They were all re-vaccinated in Glasgow, and kept under daily medical observa- tion during the stay of the vessel in the Port of Cardiff.