Dr. Blaxall's report to the Local Government Board upon an outbreak of diphtheria at Berkhampstead, Herts, and upon the sewerage of the town / [F.H. Blaxall].
- Blaxall, F. H.
- Date:
- 1890
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Dr. Blaxall's report to the Local Government Board upon an outbreak of diphtheria at Berkhampstead, Herts, and upon the sewerage of the town / [F.H. Blaxall]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Two cases have especial interest for the inquirer into the origin of the disease: one was the case of somebody, a boarder at the school, who first came under medical treatment for a sore throat during the last week of September; the other was a day scholar (H. T.) living at Kitsbury, a suburb of Berkhampstead, who stayed at home on September 24th on account of sore throat. The former case will come under consideration in the course of this report, but of the other case, as being earlier in point of his first definite symptoms, I proceed to give a more particular account. The Kitsbury family consisted of husband, wife, and five children, three boys (of whom H. T. was the second), two girls, and two servants. The ages of the children ranged between 9 and 14 years. The three boys all went to the Grammar School. H. T. was kept at home from September 24th to October 16th, when he returned to school for two days. In the meanwhile, early in October, his mother and one of his sisters were attacked with throat illness, followed on the 7th October by the eldest brother, who up to that date had continued to attend school. On October 9th, Mrs. T.’s illness' was pronounced by her medical attendant to be diphtheria ; subsequently the other sister was attacked, and lastly, on October 19th, the youngest boy, who up to that date had gone to school daily. This boy and his mother both suffered from diphtheritic paralysis. It should be noted that Mrs. T. had suffered from diphtheria some 20 years before, and all the family were subject to sore throats. After this there was no further case of recognized diphtheria in the town until December 3rd; but it is in evidence that throat illness of more or less severity had continued present in the Grammar School, commencing shortly after the re-assembling of the boys. The attacks occurred in irregular sequence, viz., on September 24th (H. T., before-mentioned), 26th, 30th; October 2nd, 7th, 19th (the two last being H. T.’s brothers), 23rd, 26th; .November 1st, 2nd, 4th, 11th, 13th, 18th, 22nd, 25th, 26th, and December 2nd. All the foregoing cases, with the exception of H. T. and his brothers, occurred in boarders living in one or other of the grammar school-houses. The cases were of an ill-defined character. The head master, indeed, expressed doubt as to whether certain ailments could properly be spoken of as “ throat illness ” at all. After December 2nd the character of the disease changed, typical diphtheria of a virulent and fatal form manifesting itself, attacking first a day boy, G. A., on December 3rd, who died on December 13th. On December 5th, three cases of ill-defined throat illness occurred amongst the boarders. December 8th, a boarder was taken ill with what ultimately proved to be nasal diphtheria. [Unfortunately the nature of the attack was not recognised and the boy was sent to his home, with the sad result of his mother and two of his sisters contracting diphtheria and dying.] On December 9th, an assistant master lodging in the town was attacked. On the 11th, six boarders and one day scholar, one boarder dying, On the 13th, one boarder and one day scholar began to be ill. On the 14th the school was broken up, two boarders manifesting diphtheria after arrival at their homes, and one case proving fatal. Altogether, inclusive of the recognised diphtheria cases, there was a total of 40 cases of throat illness, of which 30 occurred in boarders, four in day scholars, one in an assistant master lodging in the town, and the remain¬ ing five in the family of the day scholar, H. T. No case of diphtheria occurred in the town after the school was dispersed. The children of the board and national schools were, according to the testimony of the teachers, exceptionally healthy during the term. The teachers did not remember any cases of sore throat amongst the children ; but the lists of the National School showed some cases of mumps in a family, com¬ mencing on 20 th September. Remembering my experience elsewhere of so- called mumps having been followed by marked diphtheritic paralysis, I made careful inquiry into the history of These cases, with the result of satis¬ fying myself that there was nothing to justify suspicion that diphtheria had been present in these cases. So they may be dismissed from further con¬ sideration.—The doctors’ lists show that two families, residing in the town, but unconnected with the Grammar School, were attacked with throat illness, one on Nmm-nr>her 14th the other on December 10th. In the first familv the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30557550_0002.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
