HH62/45/157

Transcription

[Page] 29

Tubercular Diseases caused 16 Deaths (of which 13 were due to Phthisis) in
1893, as against 17 in 1892. This shows that 8.1 per cent. of the total deaths were
due to this class of diseases.
Nervous Diseases caused 17 Deaths, in which 8 were persons of sixty years and
upwards.
Digestive Diseases caused 11 Deaths, in which 6 were persons of sixty years
and upwards, or 5.5 per cent. of the total.
Cancer and Malignant Diseases caused 9 Deaths, or 4.5 per cent. of the total,
against 6 in 1892.
Devolopmental Diseases caused 9 Deaths, of which 5 were due to premature birth,
against 9 in 1892.
Old Age caused 48 Deaths or 24.3 per cent. of the total. In 1892 the deaths due
to Old Age were 45, or 21 per cent. of the total.
Zymotic Diseases -
Zymotic Diseases caused 6 Deaths in 1893, against 6 in 1892, giving a Zymotic
Death-Rate of .465. In all, 73 cases were reported during 1893, against 48 in 1892.
Typhus Fever was unfortunately brought to the District by a girl who had
been in contact with a family of Tinkers, six of whom were removed to Hospital from
the neighbourhood of Crieff suffering from the disease. The girl had left the Crieff
camp some time before the disease there was recognised, and when it was discovered
no information could be elicited which pointed to anyone having left the infected camp
immediately previous to the illness there. The patient in the Highland District was ill
in a wood, and when seen by a medical man he certified her to be suffering from inflam-
mation of the lungs, and ordered her removal to the Logierait Poorhouse, where,
fortunately, the Governor placed her in an isolated part of the building as being more
comfortable. Here she remained during the whole of her illness, as she was suspected of
having something more than simple pneumonia wrong with her. She was nursed by the
Matron, who, unfortunately, became infected, and had a severe struggle for her life. The
Matron was treated in a room on the top flat of the Poorhouse, where she and the
Nurse attending on her were well isolated from the rest of the inmates. The
Matron ultimately recovered, but the Nurse took the disease a month later, and was,
in consequence, removed to Perth Hospital, where she died on the twelfth day of the
fever. By her death the County lost the services of one of the most kind-hearted
and best of Nurses, one who had on many former occasions risked her life at a
moment's notice to nurse those suffering from infectious disease. In the Nurse's case
the disease had attacked her for the second time in her life. It speaks well for the
isolation maintained by those in charge of the Poorhouse that, with the exception of
those in actual attendance on the patients, there was no spread of the disease.
As soon as it was discovered that the girl had been removed from the camp in
the Highlands suffering fromTyphus, enquiry was made and it was reported that
two other children there had been suffering from a disease, called measles by a doctor
who had seen them. However, somehow they had been informed that we were
searching for them, and it was only after a continuous hunt for two days that the
assistant Inspector caught up with them near Aberfeldy. He found that two of the
children had been ill, and procured a medical man, who pronounced them to be not
suffering from an infectious disease.
In connection with these cases a requisition was sent by the Committee of
Management of the Poorhouse, asking the District Committee to join with other
Local Authorities throughout the country in obtaining powers to prevent vagrants,
suffering from infectious disease, from wandering about the country to the danger of
the lieges. In so far as those vagrants are concerned who are actually suffering from

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infectious disease, if medical men could only be relied on to diagnose accurately the
diseases from which they are suffering, there exists at present ample powers under
the Public Health Act to effectually protect the public. For those, however, who
have been only in contact with the patients there is no power to do more than remove
them from the room occupied by the patient, and, although accommodation is provided
for them at the expense of the Local Authority, no powers are given to confine the
suspects. By all means let us have a good reception house, and all the powers
necessary to enable the Local Authority to compulsorily detain suspects there; but
in so far as the vagrants are concerned it would be sufficient to put into force the
Bye-Laws for the Prevention of Vagrancy made by the County Council at Perth on
the 13th of October, 1890, and approved of and confirmed by the Secretary for Scotland
on the 16th December of the same year. Amongst those Bye-Laws may be cited,
"That all persons conducting themselves as vagrants, having no fixed place
of residence, and no lawful means of gaining their livelihood within the
County, shall be guilty of an offence punishable by a fine of £5, or in
default of payment thereof with expenses, to imprisonment." The strict
enforcement of the above would effectually rid the County of dangerous disseminators
of infectious disease, and would leave the money of the ratepayers to be devoted to the
protection of the inhabitants of the County, by the provision of Reception Houses,
in which the suspected members of respectable infected families of the poorer classes
might be quarantined, till the expiration of the incubation periods of the diseases to
which they may have been exposed. The Highland District Committee referred this
important matter to the County Council, who, as a remedy, advised those Districts
who had not already adopted the Infectious Disease (Notification) Act to do so.
This was good so far as it went; although as the trouble arose not from the want of
Notification, but from the inaccuracy of medical men, no Notification Act can be
relied on as a remedy.
Enteric Fever. - The Highland District is the only one in Perthshire which can
say that, during 1893, there was neither a death nor a reported case.
Scarlet Fever caused 3 deaths during 1893, against 1 in 1892. In all, there were
37 cases of the disease reported, and of these 3 were removed to Hospital, and were
discharged cured. One of the fatal cases occurred in a poor woman who had had a
child only three days previously. As is usual in such cases, the disease proved rapidly
fatal. With the exception of the nurse who was in attendance on this patient, there
was no extension of the disease.
A group of cases with one death was traced to a girl who had come from Perth
to reside in the local Post Office. On the occurrence of several cases in the
neighbourhood, an enquiry pointed to the Post Office as the probable centre of
infection, and the girl was found with her hands desquamating.
Another group of cases occurred in one of the huts at the new West Highland
Railway Works. Here the infection was brought from Fort William. Thanks to the
precautions taken by Dr. Kay, Messrs. Lucas & Aird's Medical Officer, there was no
spread of the disease.
Diphtheria caused 1 Death. In all, 6 cases of the disease were reported during
the year; 3 were removed to Hospital and all recovered. In one group of cases the
disease was evidently imported from a town.
Measles was prevalent during the year, but there were no fatal cases of the
disease. Three children (tinkers) were removed from the neighbourhood of Moulin to
Hospital.
Diarrhœa caused 2 Deaths, one in a person over 60 years of age, the other in a
child under 1 year. No epidemic of the disease was reported during the year.
Influenza caused 4 Deaths during 1893, against 6 in 1892.

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