Dr. W. Ogle's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of diphtheria in the Llandausaint and the Holyhead registration sub-districts of the Holyhead union ; and on a recent outbreak of small-pox in the town of Holyhead.

  • Ogle, W.
Date:
1879
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. W. Ogle's report to the Local Government Board on the prevalence of diphtheria in the Llandausaint and the Holyhead registration sub-districts of the Holyhead union ; and on a recent outbreak of small-pox in the town of Holyhead. 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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    valence of Diphtheria in the Llanddausaint and the Holyhead Registration Sub-Districts of the Holyhead Union; and on a recent outbreak of Small-pox in the town of Holyhead. Edward C. Seaton, M.D., - Medical DejMvtment, September 20, 1879. The island (and registration district) of Angleseais divided into two poor law unions and six registration sub-districts; three of these sub-districts constitute the union of Anglesea, and three the union of Holyhead. It was to two of the sub-districts in the latter union (Llanddausaint, with a population at the last census of 5,007 persons, and Holyhead, including the town of that name, with a population in 1871 of 8,595,) that the present inquiry was limited. The town of Holyhead (population 7,191) is under the control of a Local Board, and constitutes an urban sanitary district. The rest of the area under consideration is under the jurisdiction of the Holyhead Rural Sanitary Authority. In the first quarter of this year seven deaths were registered as due to diphtheria in the former, and three in the latter of these sub-districts ; and in consequence I was instructed by the Local Government Board to visit the locality and make inquiry into the circumstances under which this mortality had occurred, I was also directed to inquire as to the reported existence of small-pox in the town of Holyhead. It will be convenient to deal with the latter question first. Small-pox at Holyhead, and the Arrangements for Isolating cases of Infectious Disease there. In Wells Street, Holyhead, is an unregistered lodging-house, kept by a man named Roberts. There are three bed-rooms in the house In one slept Roberts, with his wife and seven children, of whom four were un-vaccinated. In a second slept a man named Parry and a girl 12 years of age; while the third was occupied by a man named Dunn, with wife and child. Towards the end of May, Parry, who was employed in going backwards and forwards between Holyhead and Dublin, fell ill, seriously enough to keep his bed, and to have medical attendance. His malady was not recog- nised as small-pox. It appears, however, that there were some few spots out on his face during his illness ; and in all probability his ailment was in reality a mild attack of small-pox, which he may very possibly have contracted at Dublin. This man recovered. But shortly after his attack the man Dunn fell ill with what proved to be confluent small-pox, and died. The infection then spread to the Roberts family, three of whom were down with the disease at the time of my visit. I found that the Local Board had given orders that the occupants of this overcrowded house should remain strictly confined within doors; that apparently these orders were being more or less fully obeyed; that the unvaccinated persons in the house had been vaccinated; and that a crier had been sent round the town advising all unvaccinated persons to get themselves vaccinated forthwith. On Salt Island, in an admirable position, is a small but very good hospital, built I believe by public subscription, with a nurse in constant residence. Beside this, and close to it, is a smaller building, consisting of one large room with two beds, for cases of infectious disease. This was built at the cost of Lady Willoughby De Broke. There is an agreement between the managers of this hospital and the Local Board that the latter shall have the power of sending in infectious cases on paying the charges for the same, and providing a nurse ; the nurse from the adjoining larger hospital not being available for infectious cases. I naturally inquired why this hospital, constructed for the very purpose, had not been used on the present occasion. The man Roberts assured me that he had been most anxious that his lodger, Dunn, should be moved there; and that Dunn himself had been willing to go ; but that his applications to sundry members of the board and to the inspector of nuisances, there being no medical officer of health, had been fruitless. I believe that the real explanation of the matter is that the Board have provided no ambulance for the conveyance of infectious cases, and that in consequence of this deficiency the building for their reception is practically useless. Unless a patient is well enough to walk there, he cannot avail himself of it. To make this building of practical use there are wanting first an ambulance, secondly some definite pre-arrange- ments by which a nurse can be procured without delay when wanted, and thirdly an oven for the disinfection of clothes and bedding. N 97. Wt. 5817.