HH62/45/165

Transcription

[Page] 37

discovered that they had sucked the wounds as soon as the doctors left, and, in con-
sequence, three of them, along with the man who voluntered to attend to the patient,
developed the disease. Their cases were, however, exceedingly slight, and some of
them were never off work until removed to Hospital. Each of the four was protected
to a considerable extent by having two good marks of primary vaccination; in fact it
was only by a very close examination that the symptoms of the disease were discovered
in any of them. One other case was due to infection caught from this hut. It
occurred in a woman, the wife of a blacksmith, who lived in a turf hut in the neighbour-
hood of the infected hut. She and her family had not been re-vaccinated, and it was
discovered after her seizure that she had been in the habit of going about the hut in
which the men were quarantined, and had done some washing for them. This woman,
who was immediately removed to a second hospital hut which had been hired, had
only one very indistinct mark of primary vaccination, and, as she suffered from a
diseased heart, her case was a very unsatisfactory one. However, she pulled through
the worst part of the disease, and died of syncope, caused by suddenly sitting up in
bed during convalescence. Although this woman had been sleeping in a small bed
occupied by her husband and three children in the small turf-hut, none of these showed
a single symptom of smallpox during the rigid quarantine to which they were
subjected. They were all re-vaccinated, and besides had very good marks of primary
vaccination. On the 27th January Dr. Kay was called to see a man in a hut four
miles down Glenfalloch; he found him to be suffering from confluent smallpox. He
had come from Glasgow shortly before his illness, and had caught infection in Burns'
Lodging House there. In this case there was no evidence of primary vaccination,
and the man was certain that he had never been vaccinated. He was removed to the
hospital hut at Crianlarich, but died during the second week of the disease. As soon
as the disease was recognised every inmate (45 in number) of the hut in which he was
was re-vaccinated; the hut was thoroughly disinfected, and there was no other case
amongst them. On the 30th January Dr. Kay discovered, on being asked to visit
the wife of a hut-keeper 3½ miles down Glenfalloch, that she was suffering from a very
severe attack of confluent smallpox. She had never been vaccinated, and was so ill
as to make her removal to the Crianlarich hut unsafe; and, as it was impossible
to get accommodation for the navvies in this hut elsewhere, it was deemed prudent,
with a view to secure isolation, to purchase a small hut from the Contractors, which
was erected in a field near, and to this the poor woman was removed. She, how-
ever, succumbed to the disease the second week. It was difficult to trace how this
case was infected; but it seems that the woman was of a kindly nature and in the
habit of giving tramps a cup of tea when passing, so that it is quite likely that, in
their wanderings, the navvy first attacked and his mate may have been her guests,
and so have left the infection. Everything which had been in contact with this woman
was removed to the small hut along with her. The inmates were re-vaccinated, and
the hut disinfected; but a week later, on examining the men on their return from
work, one of them was found to be suffering from very modified smallpox. He had
good marks of primary vaccination, and his re-vaccination had also taken. This man
was removed to the Crianlarich hut, and a further period of quarantine fixed for the
rest of the inmates. There was a general outcry against this, and affairs became so
threatening of a general defiance of authority, that it was considered wise to warn the
authorities at Oban, that there might be an escape after the pay for the week.
This warning led to rather a serious mistake, as the authorities at Oban seized and
quarantined some innocent men, but the same mistake put an effectual stop to the
threatened departure of the men under quarantine, as they saw that it would be

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better to remain in quarantine where they were than be put under restraint in
another place.
Soon after smallpox had really got a hold in Glenfalloch, the majority of the
men employed on this section by the Contractors were re-vaccinated, as the manager,
who had not been in favour of previously giving the order for every man who would
not submit to the process being dismissed, saw that it was his only safe course, and,
within a week, all were protected. The men in the infected huts were re-vaccinated
immediately on the discovery of a case, on the understanding that, in the event of
their being incapacitated from work in consequence, they would be paid for the time
lost; but, although nearly a hundred men were thus guaranteed, the total sum paid for
compensation did not exceed £6.
The mode adopted in dealing with infected clothing and bedding was that, when
a case of smallpox was discovered, the patient - with his clothing, bedding and every
thing which had been in contact with him - was removed to the Hospital, the
hutkeeper being allowed value for all his property taken. The bedding was
used for the patient during the stay in hospital, and, before discharge, everything
belonging to each patient was burnt, and all clothing replaced by new.
Through the kindness of Messrs. Lucas & Aird it was arranged that the men whilst
under quarantine, should be employed working in separate gangs, and no new hands
were allowed into the quarantine huts. At the termination of the quarantine the
huts were thoroughly disinfected and cleaned, before the restrictions were removed.
The man who was first ill in Glenfalloch had such a severe attack of the disease that
it was the 19th April before he was considered fit to be dismissed. Immediately
thereafter the huts, which had been rented for hospital purposes, were thoroughly dis-
infected, and all the property belonging to the District Committee was removed to the
small hut in Glenfalloch, which, it was decided, should be kept in readiness, lest another
case should occur. However, this hut with all its contents was destroyed by fire on
the night of the 8th May, much to the satisfaction of those resident in the district,
which was in some instances so freely expressesd as to make it almost appear that the
burning had been wilful. The two huts formerly used as hospitals have been, for
several months, again full of navvies, none of whom have shown any signs of infection,
which proves how effectual must have been the disinfection carried out by the local
Sanitary Inspector, as they looked the worst possible subjects for satisfactory disin-
fection.
Another case of smallpox was introduced into the District by a youth employed
on the Glasgow Water Works Extension Works at Frenich; he only arrived from
Glasgow the day before his illness commenced, and it was discovered that he had been
staying for three weeks in a Lodging House, in that City, which had been infected
with smallpox. The lad had two good marks of primary vaccination, and his case was a
very mild one. One of the portable Hospitals was transported to a field near Frenich
and erected there, the patient being removed to it and placed under the care of Dr.
McGregor, Aberfoyle. It so happened that in this case there were only six men
occupying the hut in which the patient was, and one who had been sleeping in the
same bed with him had been thoroughly re-vaccinated in Glenfalloch. The others
were re-vaccinated, and, through the kindness of Messrs. Waddell, put to work on an
outside job (they were previously working in the tunnel) during their period of
quarantine. There was at first a good deal of indifference exhibited by the men here
in regard to re-vaccination, but with a little coaxing Dr. Macgregor, Aberfoyle,
succeeded in getting nearly the whole protected. There was no extension of the disease,
except that the nurse who temporarily had charge of the patient (until the one from


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