Extracts from the annual report of the medical officer of the local government board for 1891-92. On manure nuisances.

  • Thorne, R. Thorne.
Date:
1893
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Extracts from the annual report of the medical officer of the local government board for 1891-92. On manure nuisances. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Dr. Parsons. Of users of rap; waste as manure. The following instances are all those which I have been able to hear gathe Manufao of in which disease has been attributed to the handling of infected waste Piock. by Dr. Eobinson, medical officer of health for East Kent, writes:—- “I have a record made on April 29, 18; / , of four cases of blood- poisoning derived apparently from infected wool waste (I believe shoddy) They occurred at separate cottages some distance fiom each other, but the sufferers had all been at work engaged in carrying wool waste. One man whom I saw had erysipelatous inflammation on the hands and at the back of one ear, and was much prostrated. He informed me that on account of the land being heavy it was difficult to distribute the manure by cart and shovel, and in consequence the manure was carried in a basket and cast on the land by hand in the same way aS wheat is hand sown. Further, he told me that he had a habit of scratching the back ot the ear, the spot which had evidently been inoculated. “The other three men suffered from sickness, diarrhoea, and febrile disturbance. The symptoms were obscure, but more like septic poisoning than anthrax. No fatal case occurred, but one of the latter three men was very ill, viz., the one who carted the wool waste from the station. « I do not remember any cases of small-pox arising from infected wool waste. In some other instances of illness occurring among persons who attributed their attacks to poisonous wool waste the evidence on the subject was not very clear.” Dr. E. F. Fussell, medical officer of health for East Sussex, mentions a case in which a lad who had for a week or more been employed in spreading with his hands “ fur waste ” manure over a field, was taken ill of scarlet fever which was attributed to infection in the manure, as there had been no previous cases in the neighbourhood, and the lad had been nowhere away from home except to his work. The “ fur waste ” is described as the refuse of fur and felt manufactories ; it would not appear a priori to he a material very likely to be infected, and it hardly comes within the scope of this report. Workers in flock factories, on commencing to work among the dust, 'Noxious effects suffer from a malady known among them as “ flock fever.” Mr. Illing- ot mhalin6 dutt* worth, a large manufacturer, says that he has never known anyone escape it. The symptoms are described as those of a severe catarrh of the bronchial passages, viz., shivering, difficulty of breathing, cough, soreness of the chest, and expectoration of mucus charged with dust. In about a week’s time, if the man continues at work, a tolerance of dust is established, the symptoms subside, and do not recur so long as he keeps at the same work: hut on leaving it off the tolerance for dust is soon lost, and on returning, after a week or two’s absence, a man suffers again as at first. 1 am even told that the men will not empty the dust- chamber on a Monday, as they would suffer more from the dust then than if they had been at work the day before. Men who can eat well are said to he comparatively little affected by the dust, but those whose appetite fails are apt to break down. Heavy drinkers, on the other hand, cannot stand the dust well, and men are said to cough much at their work if they have been drunk the night before. A “ cold,” with catarrh of the air-passages, also causes the irritative effects of the dust to be felt. When men have got used to the dust the work is not considered unhealthy. Among some 25 men constantly employed by him about the rag machines, Mr. Illingworth says that only ono has died in the
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