ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

son and by counsel, Charles Osenton. The defendant filed his written answer to the charges and specifications against him and both sides announced themselves ready for trial. Upon hearing all the evidence adduced, both written and oral, by both complainant and defendant, and upon consideration thereof, the State Board of Health doth find that the defendant, Dr. A. A. Wingrove, has been guilty of dishonorable conduct in the practice of his profession as set out in the charges and specifications, in that he did on divers dates and to divers persons, give prescriptions or cocaine in one and two drachms amounts, in powder form, and spiritous liquors in pints and quarts, au thorizing such persons to purchase said drugs and spirits in violation of the law.

It is, therefore, ordered by the Board that the certificate to practice medicine and surgery heretofore granted by the State Board of Health to Dr. A. A. Wingrove, be and the same is hereby revoked and annulled, with leave for him to apply to this Board after one year from this date for permission to resume the practice of medicine and surgery.

A copy of this order certified by the secretary of this Board and mailed by registered letter to Dr. A. A. Wingrove to his address at Scarbro, W. Va., shall be sufficient notice to him hereof, and of the revocation of his certificate to practice medicine and surgery in this state."

This is to certify that the above action was taken at the meeting of the State Board of Health held at Charleston on May 7th, 19.14."

This finished the business of the Board which then adjourned sine die.

S. L. JEPSON, Secretary.

PREVAILING DISEASES.

Small-pox.

Small-pox entered the state in the fall of 1912 and has prevailed quite extensively in many counties of the state since that time. In reply to a letter of the secretary, Dr. W. T. Henshaw, health officer of Berkeley County, under date of December 30th, 1913, makes the following report:

Dr. S. L. Jepson, Sec'y.
Wheeling, W. Va.

Dear Sir:

Martinsburg, W. Va., Dec. 30, 1913.

In reply to yours of the 15th inst., concerning the number of cases of small-pox that have occurred in this county during the last year, I beg to say that the date of the first case was November 25th, 1912. The total number of cases, adults and children, 94. Total number of suspects, 143. Of those who had the disease not one gave a history of vaccination. Two of the suspects contracted the disease simply because they refused vaccination. ΟΙ the suspects, 139 were successfully vaccinated and two gave a history of a former successful vaccination. There were two deaths, both infants, one aged 17 days and one 21 days.

Sincerely yours.

W. T. HENSHAW, M. D.

ville. So far as we have learned these constitute the complete report of the cases occurring in Berkeley County. Dr. Henshaw has been most active in his efforts to have every child in Berkeley County vaccinated, and although he has met with some opposition from sources from which it should not have been expected, he has been successful to a marked degree. As a result Berkeley county will probably not be greatly annoyed by small-pox for years to come. It is worth while to emphasize the fact that of 94 cases of small-pox in a single epidemic,. not one patient claimed to have ever been vaccinated. This experience is a very common one, but is worthy of a special mention because of the large number of patients treated. The exact origin of the disease in the state is not known. There was probably a number of different sources of infection, as the wide spread outbreak in Berkeley county prevailed at about the same time that it made its appearance in the western part of the state. At the same time also, we had information that there were cases in a number of the counties in Ohio, so that it is probable that it entered West Virginia from both the east and the west. Almost immediately after I assumed charge of the secretary's office I was called to Hundred, Wetzel county, where a number of cases of eruptive disease had appeared, concerning the exact character of which the physicians of the town differed. Unfortunately the health officer' regarded the cases as chicken-pox, and hence for a time did not exercise the precautions or enforce the quarantine which he would have done had a diagnosis of smallpox been promptly made. The result was that a number of cases occurred before the physicians of the community were united in the opinion that the disease was really small-pox, although in an extremely mild form. I made an official visit to this community on July 5th and visited all of the patients in the town with the health officer. The majority of these were well advanced in convalescence, several having been discharged from treatment. While most of these cases, if in children, could readily be mistaken for chicken-pox, several were so well marked and the eruption so characteristic that no mistake should have been made in the diagnosis. This is especially true with the cases in adults, since chicken-pox in the adult is so extremely rare.

On my visit to Hundred I found that Mannington had issued quarantine orders against Hundred, and, believing that the health authorities at the latter place would now, with the instructions given them, exercise proper care in the control of the disease, the following order was issued and sent to the health authorities at Mannington:

Dr. W. H. Leahy,

Health Officer,

Mannington, W. Va.,

My Dear Doctor Leahy:

Wheeling, W. Va., July 13, 1913.

"I am informed that your city has quarantined against the town of Hundred. I visited that place yesterday, and found but two cases of small-pox in the town. One is a case in a man who is almost ready to be discharged, the other is a babe who is

charged were seen. Both the acute cases are in isolated locations away from the path of travel. The disease seems to be well managed, and I therefore see no occasion for a quarantine against the town. Exercising the authority vested in me as Secretary of the State Board of Health, I therefore direct that the quarantine be lifted and public notice be given of this fact."

(Signed) S. L. JEPSON, Sec'y, State Board of Health.

The conditions at Hundred were greatly exaggerated, and erroneous reports were spread to different parts of the county both as to the extent of the disease and as to the character of its management, the people being led to believe that no proper control was exercised by the health authorities. Here are samples of letters that reached me, which indicate the excited state of the people in neighboring communities:

Dear Sir:

"Earnshaw, W. Va., July 15, 1913.

The people of this vicinity desire to call on you for protection from the unnecessary exposure to small-pox. It is still raging at Hundred and the people of that place are running at large and going around over the country anywhere their business calls them. There are a number of teamsters from that place that are hauling through here regularly. Our village here is not incorporated. Therefore, we cannot keep them out. So we appeal to you to come to our relief. We cannot have church or anything of that kind here for fear of some one coming and bringing small-pox into our midst. Hundred is about six miles from this place. Please let me know whether there is anything we can do in the matter or not, and what you can do for us. Yours very truly."

To this letter the following reply was sent:

My Dear Sir:

Your letter as to small-pox at Hundred is received. You are misinformed as to the disease which you say is "still raging at Hundred." On a recent visit I found one acute case and one about well in that town. I learn that two cases now exist in the family of the first and last referred to. The thing for you to do is, to push vaccination vigorously. After this you need have no fears. The State Board of Health will not sanction any quarantine, since you have a perfect preventive of small-pox in vaccination.

Respectfully yours,

(Signed) S. L. JEPSON, Sec'y."

The following is an extract from a letter from Burton, a town two miles east of Hundred:

Dr. S. L. Jepson, Secretary,
Dear Sir:-

"Burton, W. Va., July 19th, 1914.

Your certainly have a misconception of the small-pox epidemic in Hundred, and also of the extremely negligent way in which the health officer of that town is acting. One man was permitted

sons recovered from the disease are permitted to run about, while
in no case have we heard of any house or clothing being disin-
fected. What we wish to know is, is there any way in which
we can compel all persons of the infected town from going out
of it. There is no use for us to appeal to the local health officer,
and unless we can secure aid from your board, we will, of neces-
sity, ask the governor of the state. There are quite a number
of new cases and some, from authentic reports, are very bad.
For information as to the true state of the disease we advise,
seek it elsewhere than in the town.
Yours truly,

(Signed by several citizens.)"

On receiving the above letter I at once wrote the following communication to the Mayor of Hundred:

Hon. J. E. Martin,

"Wheeling, W. Va., July 19, 1913.

Mayor of Hundred, West Virginia,
My Dear Sir:-

As promised you, I on July 17th, wrote to the Mayor and Health Officer of Littleton, directing that the quarantine established against Hundred be at once raised. The reason for this was your report by telephone of the small-pox condition now existing in your town, and my personal observation there during my recent visit. That I may be safely guided I desire that you write me fully and exactly the present condition as to small-pox. Give me the number of cases, their stage of development, whether you practice disinfection after the cases are discharged, and whether or not it is diligently practised. I have been informed that the proprietor of a meat store, "was permitted to remain in his store for three days after the eruption of small-pox appeared on his person." Is this true? If so, some one has neglected his duty. Your health officer cannot be too diligent in pressing vaccination, and he must see that proper cleaning and disinfection are attended to before turning any patients out among the people.

Hoping that I may have a very early and full reply to his note, I remain respectfully yours,

S. L. JEPSON, Sec'y."

The order raising the quarantine of Littleton against the Town of Hundred referred to in the above letter, is here given:

Mayor Schultz,

Wheeling, W. Va., July 18th, 1913.

Dr. W. H. Lemley, Health Officer,
Gentlemen:-

I learn that you have quarantined against the town of Hundred. Having recently visited that town and made a full investigation of the small-pox situation, I am satisfied that the conditions existing will not warrant your action. I have late information that the local situation is far from dangerous and, therefore, exercising the authority given to me by the law, I hereby direct that the quarantine be lifted, and public notice be given of this order. The situation in your community when I visited your town was very much worse than that now existing in Hundred, and yet I could not have sanctioned a quarantine against Littleton.

I urge a very free vaccination of your community. If this

will be glad to hear from you as to your own exact condition. Sincerely yours,

S. L. JEPSON, Secretary State Board of Health."

It may be here remarked that no reply has ever been received to the above communication.

The letter written to the Mayor of Hundred on July 19th, brought replies from both the Mayor and Health Officer of that town. From these extracts are here given:

Dr. S. L. Jepson,

Wheeling, W. Va.

Dear Doctor:

"Hundred, W. Va., July 21st, 1913.

In reply to your letter of the 19th inst., beg to say, that at the present time we have five cases of smallpox here, two at Mr. Ross's residence, two at Mr. J. H. Taylor's residence where they already had the disease, and one at E. L. Hinegardner's residence, the last being the only new case. Mr. Hinegartner is the meat dealer referred to in your letter and his eruption appeared Sunday morning, July 13th. As soon as the case was reported to the Health Officer the house was immediately quarantined. The report that the eruption in this case had appeared two or three days before Mr. H. left his place of business is false like many others in circulation. **** His place of business was thoroughly fumigated and his entire family put under strict quarantine. All those who had been exposed in his place of business were vaccinated or quarantined.

[blocks in formation]

Dr. J. E. Martin, Mayor of Hundred, has just handed me your letter of July 19th. I beg to report that the conditions are much as they were when you were here and it looks as if the spread of the disease was stopped, as we have but one newly infected house since then. Two new cases have occurred in the family of Mr. Taylor in which there had been a previous case. Two cases also exist in the family of Mr. Ross which you visited. **** The case of Mr. Hinegardner, referred to in the letter of Mayor Martin, was reported to me 15 minutes after the doctor saw him, and I had him quarantined in less than half an hour after he was first seen by his physician, and I also had every one who was exposed in his store vaccinated except two, and they were quarantined.

In regard to disinfection and fumigation will say, that I have all convalescent patients take a bichloride bath, change all clothing and then have their houses and all clothing thoroughly fumigated. I do not raise the quarantine until desquamation is complete. I have even kept the patients in longer than you advised, to keep the people from talking, but it seems as if they think I should keep them in for weeks after they are in

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »