Observations of the Medical Officer of Health [E.W. Hope] upon the report of Dr. R.J. Reece to the Local Government Board on smallpox and smallpox hospitals at Liverpool, 1902-3.

  • Hope, E. W. (Edward William), 1855-1950.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Observations of the Medical Officer of Health [E.W. Hope] upon the report of Dr. R.J. Reece to the Local Government Board on smallpox and smallpox hospitals at Liverpool, 1902-3. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    And other slight cases of small})ox, not mistaken, but purposely concealed, do inucli in all experience to spread the disease in an epidemic form ” Mr. Power would regard it, thei’efore, as manifestly improper to ascribe all the outbreaks of smallpox in the vicinity of hos|)itals to aerial convection, without weighing other sources of infection. At the time these investigations were cai'iied out, a veiy essential aid to investigation, namely, the Infectious Disease Notification Act, was lacking, and in the progress of years, circum- stances have arisen in connection with smallpox hospitals, wliich suggest that the sources of infection in the neighbourhood were not invariably to be ascribed to aerial convection, but were not infrequently due to the same causes which give rise to smallpox in places remote from hosjiitals, as Mr. Power yiointed out in the Report quoted. The })Osition then briefly is this, that the explanations which the careful researches of twenty yeai’S ago gave rise to, have resulted in calling attention to the necessity for the suitable location of small- pox hospitals, and for their suitable administration. It must be remembei'ed that information regarding smallpox is more easily obtainable now than formerly, owing to the important legislation of recent years. This legislation is not designed merely to supply information, but to aid Sanitary Authorities in safe- guarding the public from extension of the disease. Under the terms of the Infectious Diseases (Notification) Act, which was passed in 1889, the medical attendant and the person in charge of a smallpox patient are required to notify the case to the Medical Officer of Health. Chickenpox was also scheduled for compulsory notification in Liverpool in 1902, because this disease is the one with which modified smallpox is most commonly confused. Fifty-four patients, repoi'ted during the outbreak in ({iiestion as cases of chickenpox, were found to be suffering from smallpox. But even this legislation is not sufficient to meet all the necessities of this insidious disease. Many enquiries have to be made, and it is not an uncommon thing for the filends oi- relatives of patients to give untiue replies to those enquiries. Hence it was that the Liverpool Corporation, in 1902, obtained most important and most useful Parliamentary powers to deal with persons guilty of wilful suppression of the truth, or of giving false information, in regard to smallpox, and they obtained an important clause^ rendering offences of this chai'acter ])enal. Still further to lessen danger arising by persons trespassing upon the hospital grounds, scaling the walls and fences, and even entering the hospital premises, the Liverpool Corporation, in the same Act, obtained powers to prevent persons from entering such hospitals or their grounds, excepting with the consent in writing of the Medical Officer of Health. * This clause is as follows ;— •• The occupier of any building in the City which is used for human habitation, and in which there is or has been any person suffering from a dangerous infectious disease, shall, on the application of the Medical Officer of Health, or the Deputy or Assistant Medical Officer of Health for the City at any time during the illness of such person, or within six weeks from the occurrence of such illness, furnish such information within his knowledge, as the ^Medical Officer of Health, or the Deputy or Assistant Medical Officer of Health, may reasonably require for the purpose of enabling measures to- be taken to prevent the spread of the disease. Any occupier refusing to furnish such information, or knowingly furnishing false information, shall he liable on summary conviction to a penaltv not exceeding forty shillings.