SMALL-POX: A CASE IN THE PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 217, 19 June 1872, Page 3

SMALL-POX: A CASE IN THE PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL.

The D. S. Cross of yesterday says —A good deal of excitement was created a short time ago relative to the possibility of the small-pox being introduced into this city by vessels from England with passengers. This excitement was caused chiefly by the arrival of the ship England at Wellington with several cases of smallpox on board. The authorities there took steps to stamp the disease out, and to all appearance they succeeded in their efforts. It seems, however, that variola has obtained a lodgment in the colony from another source. By the last trip of the Nebraska from Dunedin she brought to this city a man named Henry Thompson, a butcher, who since his arrival here has had developed upon him well-marked symptoms of small-pox. He resided after his arrival here in a boarding-house. We have not learned whether-he had been employed in any of the butchers’ shops in the city before he was conveyed to the Provincial Hospital, but as he has only been such a short time in town he has probably not been in any employment. For several days past he has been ailing, and on Sunday was conveyed to the hospital and placed under the care of the Provincial Surgeon. Dr Philson saw at once that the disease under which Thompson was labouring was a true ease of variola, but apparently of a mild character. He was at once isolated from the other patients, and the usual remedies were applied. Thompson has informed the doctor that on his way up from Dunedin two other persons were suffering from a peculiar kind of rash, but we have not been able to learn whether these were members of the crew or a portion of his fellow-passengers from the South. From our Southern telegrams also it will be seen that the mail-agent of the Nebraska has been attacked with the sm; 11-pox, from which it would almost :ipp ai that the disease had been conveyen with the mails from San Francisco, or upon some of the cargo discharged at

Dunedin, although it only made its appearance when the vessel was off this coast. It may be, however, that the disease introduced into Wellington by the England was not altogether extinguished, and is now breaking out there. The fact that the mail-agent only felt the disease after he reached his residence in Wellington, and also ’ thtr circumstance that Thompson was not a passenger from San Francisco, and might have caught the disease from the other sufferers on board who may have been passengers from Wellington, lends additional colour to the idea that the disease originated in Wellington. No one on the Nebraska bad any notion of stnall-pox being on board, and no particular notice was taken of the persons mentioned, and it was only after Thompson had been taken to the Hospital that he informed Dr Pbilson of the circumstance. We trust that the room in which Mr Thompson slept before he was taken to the Hospital will be thoroughly disinfected, and the bed and bed-clothes he used perfectly cleaned. Cleanliness, under all circumstances, is desirable, and doubly so when the disease of small-pox is concerned. It is during the period of convalescence—that is, after the disease hss reached its maturity, and is gradually on the decline—that the most danger from contagion is to be apprehended ; and as Thompson’s case has been taken in hand before the pock has matured, it is to be hoped that his case will be singular, and the only one which we shall have to notice. When the facts of the case were made known tc Mr Beckham, R.M., he, as Chairman of the Board of Health, at once instructed Mr J. Cunningham to convene a meeting of that Board. This meeting took place yesterday, when the following members were present :—Captain Daldy, in the chair. Dr Philson, Messrs McKellar, and P. A. Phillips (Mayor). Mr Beckatn, having been compelled to proceed to the Thames to hold a sitting of the District Court there, was necessarily absent. The following telegram from the Colonial Secretary was laid before the Board : “ Colonial Secretary’s Office, Wellington. T. Beckham, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Health.—The Board of Health should take every precaution when a steamer or other vessel arrives from San Francisco or elsewhere, as there is reason to believe that the Mail Agent of the Nebraska has caught the small-pox. The mail should be fumigated—\V. Gisborne.”— After some consideration, the Board resolved to wait upon his Honor the Superintendent in the afternoon, to determine what steps should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease, and to secure against its being again introduced by incoming vessels. The deputation waited upon his Honor at half-past two o’clock, and a general discussion took place regarding the powers possessed by the Board of Health. Another meeting of the Board was held yesterday when precautionary measures were resolved upon.