[Report 1905] / Medical Officer of Health, Melton Mowbray R.D.C.
- Melton Mowbray (England). Rural District Council.
- Date:
- 1905
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1905] / Medical Officer of Health, Melton Mowbray R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[4] from October 21st to November 20th. Whooping Cough was pre¬ valent in the autumn at Asfordby, Burton Lazars, Scalford,Waltham, Branstone, and Buckminster, owing to which the schools were closed at Burton Lazars from December 22nd to January 15th, and at Scalford from October 28th to November 27th. • \ General Remarks :—A very large number of the cases of infectious diseases recorded were of a mdd character, but being mild they were none the less infectious. Isolation of the patient was adopted wherever that was possible, for it is a difficult matter to isolate a person in a family of 6 or 8 people when there are only 2 or 3 bedrooms; nevertheless it was carried out very satisfactorily in some cases aud the spread of the disease thereby checked. In all cases disinfectants were used during the course of the disease, and after¬ wards the rooms were fumigated with sulphur or formalin, the clothes and bedding disinfected as well as possible and a thorough cleaning of the house recommended. With respect to isolation, there should be no difficulty in the future because the Isolation Hospital at Melton was opened in the Autumn and will make provision for those who cannot be isolated at home. Such an institution ought to be th 3 means of reducing even if it does not wipe out such diseases as diphtheria, scarlet fever, &c. But it is useless to isolate some of the patients if others go free, indeed our vigilance on this score must not be relaxed; there has for years been a tendency on the part of parents not to notify or get medical attendance for mild cases of these diseases or they go unrecognised, and the infected person is soon at school again, or running the streets, or following his ordinary avocation. I have many times detected these persons in a state of desquamation. Nor must the benefits to be derived from the disinfection of houses, bedding, clothing, &c. be neglected ; on the contrary, our hands ought to be strengthened so that a more thoro*ugh disinfection may be carried out than has hitherto been done. In many cases e.g. the mother of the family has nursed a sick child and conscientiously carried out the instructions given her with regard to isolation and washing bed-clothing, but she has probably forgotten that her own clothing has become infected during her nursing, that carpets and various articles left in the chests of drawers or boxes in the room have also become infected, and no special precaution is taken with regard to them. Now, every article which has been, perhaps not used at all by the sick person in the sick room or in a drawer or box in that room becomes infected ; I have known such things to remain un¬ disturbed for months, and when such an article is used, it may be months or a year or two after the original illness, a fresh outbreak of the disease occurs. This is one of our weak points, viz : want of thorough disinfection of the house and everything in it, and more](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29795850_0006.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
