Mr. W. H. Power's report to the local government board on diphtheria at Hern Hill, in the Faversham rural sanitary district ; on the sanitary state of that district ; and on administration by the rural sanitary district.
- Power, W. H.
- Date:
- 1880
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Mr. W. H. Power's report to the local government board on diphtheria at Hern Hill, in the Faversham rural sanitary district ; on the sanitary state of that district ; and on administration by the rural sanitary 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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![mother, were also taken ill, but recovered. In this family the infection appeared trace- able to a previous case at a neighbouring farm house, Priskilly Fawr, (nearly a mile dis- tant) where was a young man who had been brought, ill, from a distant village, Welshook. While Thomas Eoberts was ill, there was communication between the Robertses of Castle Froga, and a family named Williams living in a thatched cottage (Pen-y-bank) on a bleak eminence half a mile distant. Plere three children were taken ill, and two died on November 7th and 11th. The father was afterwards attacked and recovered, but was long affected with dimness of eyesight, difficulty of swallowing and weakness of the limbs. Fortunately none of the children at these two cottages were attending school. I enquired of the schoolmaster in the village of Mathry, but he did not know of any case of sore throat among his scholars. 4. In December a fresh crop of diphtheria sprang up in separate farm-houses in a bare, cold, clayey region to the west of Mathry. Among them there was evidence of spread of the disease by personal communication, though some links were wanting. A lad of 14, who afterwards died, (December 13th,) was visited during his illness by his cousin, a young woman of 26. She was afterwards taken ill, and, returning to her own home, appears to have given the infection to a younger sister, who died on December 26th. A little girl who visited this house also was attacked. Another death occurred in the neighbourhood on December 18th, of which I was not able to learn the relations. 5. In January of the present year (1880) a girl in service at Mathry was taken ill with diphtheria after a visit to a farm on the coast named Barry Island. There had previously been a case of diphtheria at this farm, and another case occurred there subsequently. 6. There had previously, in December 1879, commenced an outbreak in the neigh- bouring fishing village of Trevine, originating apparently [in the arrival of a man from Barry Island suffering from diphtheria. The infection got among the school- children and spread rapidly up and down the village. One child died on Christmas Day ; another on February 23rd in the present year. There was still one case in progress at the same time of my visit. 7. Throughout this wide-spread prevalence of diphtheria in these remote parishes of the Haverfordwest Union, I heard of nothing in the sliape of epizootic disease or any affection of the lower animals or anything noticeable in domestic vermin, in relation with the epidemic. The course of the infection bore no relation to milk supply ; indeed in most cases, especially among isolated cottages, each family had its own separate supply of milk. It could not be said that the places which suffered most from diph- theria were distinguished by especial filthiness in themselves, or in their surroundings. All the positive evidence bearing on the spread of the disease resolves itself into personal communication among dwellers on a bare, cold, wet clayey soil. 8. I could not help noticing, though the fact may have been only accidental, that all the families attacked were fairhaired. 9. I have to regret that circumstances obliged me to curtail this enquiry unduly, allowing me to spend only one day on the scene. It is consequently far from complete in its details. In particular I am unable to state the total number of persons attacked. The want of guidance in the shape of previous reports of the Medical Officer of Health was felt as a serious hindrance to the enquiry. Much difficulty also attaches to an investigation depending upon question and answer, when the parties concerned do not speak the same language. In meeting this difficulty I have to acknowledge the assistance which I received from Mr. J. W. Francis, the sanitary inspector of the Haverfordwest rural sanitary district. BIDEFOED. [Registrak-Genekal’s Quarterly Return, 1879, Fourth quarter.—District, Bideford ; Sub-district, Hartland. Five deaths registered from diphtheria. (All at Woolfar- disworthy. Population, 749.)] 1. In this sub-district no previous death from diphtheria had been registered since 1873. So far, therefore, the ground might be supposed clear of the confusion attaching to a multiplicity of possible sources of infection due to previous outbreaks in the same locality (such as appeared to entangle the threads of inquiry in the Haverfordwest district which I had just left). On examining the death-register of the Hartland sub-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2499683x_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
