HH62/1/DUNBAR/55

Transcription

[Page] 54

It will be seen that in all 113 cases were notified. Of diphtheria
there were 9 cases; of erysipelas, 13; of scarlet fever, 60; of enteric
fever, 29; and of puerperal fever, 2. The total population being
20,314, the case-rate was thus 8·78 per 1000 per annum. Of
deaths amongst these cases there were 14. They occurred in the
following diseases:- Diphtheria, 3; erysipelas, 1; scarlet fever, 4;
and enteric fever, 6. One of the deaths from enteric fever and
two of those from scarlet fever occurred in Govan hospital. Five
of the deaths belonged to Cumbernauld parish, five to West
Kilpatrick, three to East Kilpatrick, and one to Kirkintilloch.
Diphtheria. - In Cumbernauld parish there were six cases. The
first was a child at Nethercroy, in a house which was only in
temporary occupation, and was not in a good sanitary condition.
The child died. The next occurred at a dairy farm at Castlecary.
The patient, a boy aged 12, was removed to Falkirk hospital,
and the milk supply stopped for a few days until the premises had
been thoroughly disinfected. Two cases occurred near the end of
July, in one family, at South Muirhead. The disease appeared to
have been brought from Edinburgh. The drainage of the house
was defective, and the owners were communicated with. Two
more occurred in a family in Cumbernauld village, both notified on
September 10th. The house was a new one, and the walls were
on that account rather damp.
In West Kilpatrick there were two cases of diphtheria - one,
intimated on 12th September, in a large house with ample means
of isolation, and the other on 10th October, at a dairy farm. This
latter case proved fatal on the day on which it was notified. The
body was interred on the 12th, and the premises were disinfected.
Scarlet Fever. - In the parish of Cumbernauld no less than
thirty-three cases of scarlatina occurred. The majority were in
the miners' rows, fourteen being in Auchinstarry, and four each
in Smithston and Croy. In the village of Cumbernauld there
were six cases, and in the rural parts of the parish five.
In a colliery village it is not easy to prevent the spread of
scarlet fever, unless by prompt removal to hospital. It is true
that the houses have a considerable advantage in being of
only one storey, each with its own door. This is very different
from tenements consisting of several flats, each with several
families, and a common stairway in the body of the building

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conveying the poison from one door to another. In a miners' row,
the poison gets into the open air whenever it gets out of the door
of the dwelling, and, looking to the effect of pure air in diluting
or destroying the germs of scarlet fever, this ought to be an
advantage. But the doors are often in pairs, close together, and
a good deal depends on the purity of the outside air. If within
a few feet of the houses there are rows of foul privy middens
and dirty slop-channels, then, especially in warm weather, the air
will foster rather than destroy the organisms of the disease. But
in a well planned and properly scavenged row it seems likely
that scarlet fever will less often be conveyed directly from the air
within an infected house to outsiders, than by infected children
allowed out too soon after their recovery, or by children not them-
selves ill, but living in an infected house, and conveying the
disease by means of their clothing, &c., to the juvenile population
with whom they mingle.
No case of scarlet fever in these rows was removed to hospital.
Owing to there being no hospital within the District one could not
insist on removal, while parents have not yet been educated up
to the point of ready compliance with a mere request, especially
as the available hospital is at Govan, which is about 16 miles
distant from some of the rows. In endeavouring to check the
spread of the disease it was therefore necessary to rely on the
printed instructions, on emphatic verbal appeals, on warning as
to the penalties incurred by exposure of infected children, and on
such supervision as was possible in the circumstances. On the
whole the result has been better than at one time appeared likely,
though it would be rash to attribute it entirely to our action.
At the census last year the population of Auchinstarry was 699.
And while fourteen cases of the disease occurred, only eight
houses were invaded, ten of the cases having been confined to
four families.
The first had been in progress nearly three weeks before
the Notification Act came into operation on May 1st. The next
two (in one family) began on May 13th, and subsequently the
dates were as follow - June 1st, July 18th, 23rd, 29th, August
5th, 13th, September 1st, 7th, 10th, 13th, and 14th. Most of
the attacks were in houses within a few doors of each other. In
Croy Row the four cases were in two families, and in Smithston

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valrsl- Moderator, CorrieBuidhe- Moderator