Dr. Thresh's report report to the Local Government Board on the extensive prevalence of typhoid fever in Southend, Essex / John C. Thresh.
- John Clough Thresh
- Date:
- [1890?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Dr. Thresh's report report to the Local Government Board on the extensive prevalence of typhoid fever in Southend, Essex / John C. Thresh. Source: Wellcome Collection.
21/46 page 19
![House Drainage. As Mr. Shirley Murphy has so recently reported on the sanitary condition of the town, it is unnecessary to describe this more fully than is re¬ quired for the object in view. I shall confine myself therefore to enumerating the defects found in my visits to infected houses. I Wwu, Of the 122 houses in Southend in which cases of Typhoid have been reported this year, 40 only had water-closets inside. In 23 of these the soil pipe was not venti¬ lated, and in 11 there were more or less serious defects in the ventilators, so that only 12 out of the 40 could be said to be satisfactory in this respect. In 6 houses the old pan and container closet was found. In 9 houses the waste-pipe from the sink passed directly into the drains. Out of 65 houses in which the condition was either known or could be ascer¬ tained, in 32 the stack-pipes were directly connected with the sewers. From very many of these sewer gas was escaping at the joints, and often in dangerous proximity to win¬ dows or doors. In 4 cases the drains were blocked either at or just before the outbreak of the fever. In only 8 cases were the drains known to be trapped before joining the sewers, in all the others the Inspector informed me that he felt sure they were directly connected. /r _ Udt ~ In one house in which two cases of fever have originated this year, there was a fatal case at the end of last year. When the drain was examined it was found blocked with soil,and the joints being clay the sewage matter had impregnated the ground around. For a considerable distance if there was any fall it was in the wrong direction. This is one of a pair of recently erected villas. Three families have occupied this house with¬ in 12 months, and fever cases have occurred in two. The house was not disinfected until after the second case. In another and larger house there was an old pan closet in the centre of the landing of the first floor. All the inmates who slept on this land¬ ing contracted Typhoid. No other members of the household were affected. As to the condition of the drains, traps, &c., I will let the two cases which I carefully examined speak for themselves^ The Surveyor having placed a number of men at my disposal, a group of cottages', was selected and the drain dug down upon. The pipe first exposed was found to be broken, and a half-brick had been stuffed into the hole to keep out the earth. The ground under the next length had given way to such an extent that a child could have crawled under the pipe. The joints were of clay. When smoke was blown into the drain it issued freely from the ground at numerous places along the course of the drain. It passed into the kitchen of the first house, and through a de¬ fective trap into the yard of the second. In fact it found such ready egress that it could not be forced beyond the second cottage. At an adjoining block the drain was exposed. The joints were said to be of cement, but it was easily removed with a pocket knife. When smoke was driven in here it found such a ready outlet round the base of the first closet pan that it could not be driven be¬ yond,, Numerous cases of fever have occurred in these blocks. These defects in trapped drains would be serious enough, but the danger is fearfully enhanced where the drains are connected with sewers which are inadequately ventilated, and of such small calibre that the gaseous emenations are most concentrated and are subject to great changes in pressure. , . ,1 ] - (! ' / , 7 I_ / / * nf * A n](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30557835_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
