Report of Dr. Sidney Coupland on the outbreak of small-box in the Dewsbury Union in 1891-2.

  • Coupland, Sidney, 1849-1930.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of Dr. Sidney Coupland on the outbreak of small-box in the Dewsbury Union in 1891-2. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    I propose now to give a brief sketch of the sanitary administration of each of the districts of the union in which cases of small-pox have occurred during the period covered hy this inquiry. For full details respecting the topography, ifcc. of the distiicts I may refer to Dr. Thorne Thome's report. Dewshury. The municipal borough of Dewshury has an area of 1.468 acres, and a population in 1891 of 29,847. The sanitary administration is under the control of the Town Council, the Medical OlRcer of Health being W. F. Watts, Esq., M.R.C.S. There is one sanitary inspector, Mr. J. Thackray. Notification of infectious diseases has been in force in the borough since 1884. The Borough Hospital for infectious diseases (see Plan) was opened in 1888, and since June 1891 had been used e.xclusively for small-pox, cases being admitted from Heck- mondwike, Ravensthorpe, Thoi nhill, Soothill Xether, as well as from the brrough. It will be seen later that with but few exceptions, every case of small-pox arising in Dewshury was thus isolated. The building is situated on a fairly open site, on low ground, at the extreme south-western boundary of the borough. It stands on land belonging to the cemetery, between the Huddersfield and Heckmondwike roads, and has but few inhabited dwellings within 500 yards of it. The building, which is constructed of wood and iron, was extended in 1892, and comprises in all five wards (48 ft long by 20 ft. wide, and about 12 ft. high), holding from 10 to 15 beds, and a central administration block, containing nurses' rooms and bath-room. The Medical Officer of Health is in charge of the Hosptial, which he visits once or twice daily, and the nursing is done by a resident matron, and a staff of two to four nurses, according to the number of cases under treatment. The accommodation for administrative purposes is some- what limited, whilst that for bathing patients was (at the time of my visit) certainly inadequate. During the height of the epidemic the resources of this building were severely taxed, but fortunately, a pi'operty adjoining the site had been recently acquired by the Corporation for a public park, and the mansion Crow Nest, standing on high ground above the Heckmondwike road, was fitted ap to receive convalescent patients, who were drafted there as soon as practicable, and retained until they were declared by the medical officer free from infection. By this means the hospital wards were made available for acute cases, and fortunately the accommodation sufficed to admit them all. The procedure adopted in cases of small-pox consists in the prompt removal to hospital upon receipt of notifica- tion, followed by disinfection of the house, &c. The Corporation possesses a special ambulance, and the sanitary inspector accompanies it to the house, and superintends the transference of the case. The inspector selects such articles from the room which the patient has occupied which, in his opinioi], are likely to retain infection, such as bedding, &c. 'J hese are taken to the hospital, all flock being burnt; linen and clothing fumigated with sulphur. The disinfection of the room is effected by sulphur-fumigation, the room being sealed up for five hours. At the end of that time the room is opened, and the inmates directed to have it re-papered and whitewashed at the discretion of the inspector. The Corporation supply carbolic soap for cleansing purposes after the fumigation, and replaces articles that may have been destroyed. The ambulance is fumigated after each case has been removed, and a separate vehicle is used for the conve3'ance of convalescent patients. Every patient on admission to the hospital is bathed (unless too ill), and before his discharge he ha(; a course of baths ; but, as already stated, this service wa^ defective. There are only two baths in the building, and the means of heating the water is inadequate. Before the discharge of a patient his clothes are fumigated, and he does not re- enter the ward to leave the building after taking the bath— a similar precaution being adopted at Crow Nest as at the hospital. Re-vaccination of inmates of houses from which cases were removed was carried out by the medical man in attendance in some instances, but in no great proportion of the whole. The amount of vaccination in the borough and the union workhouse during the first year of the epidemic may be seen in the appended return (Tables VIII. and IX.). Table VII. Small-Pox Deaths in Distkicts of Dewsbury Union (exclusive of Bikkenshaw and Gomersal). Dews- bury. Batley. 1873 - 14 10 1874 - 129 7 1875 - 5 1876 - 1877 - 1878 - 3 1879 - 1 No returi 1880 - 4 1881 - 7 1882 - 9 1883 - 1884 - 1885 - 1886 - 1887 - 1888 - 2 1889 - 1890 - 1«91 - 14 13 1892 - 45 49 Bristol. Heck- mond- wike. Liver- sedge. Mirtield. Morley. Ossett. Ravens- thorpe. Soothill Nether. Soothill, Upper. No return. No return. i 1 No return. No return. No return. No return. 36 1 No return. No return. No return. No return.