[Report 1898] / Medical Officer of Health, Penzance U.D.C. / Borough.
- Penzance (England). Urban District Council.
- Date:
- 1898
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1898] / Medical Officer of Health, Penzance U.D.C. / Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
13/18 page 10
![[6] Infection from cattle comes chiefly throug'h the milk of cows, and mainly affects young children. This is fortunately preventable by the simple process of boiling of milk, a practice which cannot be too strongly urged on parents, and which, rigidly carried out, would reduce to a minimum the entire list of tuberculous affections in infancy and childhood. In the matter of infectiveness through meat, skilled inspection in public slaughter-houses and efficient cooking within the household are necessary preventive measures. The “ tuberculin ” test is being more and more widely applied to cattle throughout the country, and especially to beasts intended for exportation. The penalty of neglect thereof in the case of any particular district will inevitably be that it will more and more become the dumping ground of uncertain animals and of those which are proved to be infected. The limitation of spread from human beings rests mainly with consumptives themselves and their attendants. Reckless spitting into handkerchiefs, non¬ ventilation of the rooms they inhabit, and the senseless exclusion of sunlight therefrom are evils to which it is to be hoped the present crusade will attract attention. In one respect Sanitary Authorities would appear to be able to render valuable service in the protection of the community: Section 46 of the Public Health Act, 1875, provides for the compulsor) cleansing of any house or part of a house where such cleansing would tend to prevent or check infectious disease, and I venture to think that effect should be given to this provision after removal of any consumptive, by death or otherwise, from any ascertained dwelling. Short of this, may I say that I shall be personally most willing to advise any house¬ holder or other, on application, as to necessary methods of disinfection in any such case. Now that the sunlight and fresh air treatment of Tuberculosis would appear to be rightly appreciated, a movement is on foot throughout the country to establish properly constructed Sanatoria for such cases. Our own local Tuberculosis returns are happily below the average, but our equable climate possesses proved advantages to a large class of consumptives, and the movement will certainly fail of full effect if one or more Sanatoria be not erected somewhere in West Cornwall. Hospital Accommodation. Our Hospital accommodation for infectious cases continues to be limited to the provision of four beds within doors and of a small tent for use on the Hospital site outside the Borough. Should a Smallpox epidemic arrive within our inefficiently protected community a slight spread will quickly exhaust our slender resources, and it will be useless to trust to hasty vaccinations and re-vaccinations to take the place of a sufficiency of means of isolation of the affected. I hope you will resume your consideration of the building of a new and larger Infectious Diseases Hospital, equipped with Steam Disinfector, &c., a matter which has of late un¬ happily fallen into the background. IVlortuary. Your Authority is to be congratulated on having obtained permission of the Board of the West Cornwall Infirmary to make use of the Mortuary on their](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29986655_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
