{"id":1898,"date":"2020-09-21T08:30:40","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T08:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=1898"},"modified":"2020-09-18T13:41:48","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T13:41:48","slug":"disease-isolation-and-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/09\/21\/disease-isolation-and-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Disease, Isolation and Vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"

O<\/span>ur current circumstances feel\u00a0<\/span>so unexpected,\u00a0<\/span>but\u00a0<\/span>until recently<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>deadly<\/span>\u00a0infectious diseases\u00a0<\/span>were common<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>our UK\u00a0<\/span>communities<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>V<\/span>arious forms of\u00a0<\/span>isolation have\u00a0<\/span>been a common response<\/span>, and the first of these were\u00a0<\/span>m<\/span>edieval hospitals for\u00a0<\/span>l<\/span>epers<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Indeed<\/span>, o<\/span>ur records\u00a0<\/span>show that\u00a0<\/span>John D<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0P<\/span>lyers<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>made a grant\u00a0<\/span>of land in Parkstone to St. Margaret’s Hospital and\u00a0<\/span>Leper<\/span>\u00a0House<\/span>\u00a0in the<\/span>\u00a0thirteenth\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0<\/span>fourteenth century<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the s<\/span>eventeenth<\/span>\u00a0century ‘Pest Houses’ were\u00a0<\/span>often provided by\u00a0<\/span>p<\/span>arishes<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>landowners<\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/span>b<\/span>oroughs<\/span>\u00a0and provided isolation and basic nursing<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Among other examples<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>Poole\u00a0<\/span>Borough\u00a0<\/span>Mayoral accounts\u00a0<\/span>of 1645\u00a0<\/span>show payments for a Pest\u00a0<\/span>House at Baiter during a<\/span>n outbreak of<\/span>\u00a0plague<\/span>\u00a0(<\/span>DC-PL\/DA\/2\/81<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>. The collective memory of such places must have been strong<\/span>;<\/span>\u00a0the Cooper Dean estate still ha<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0a field called ‘Pest House\u00a0<\/span>F<\/span>ield<\/span>‘<\/span>\u00a0in 1861<\/span>. (<\/span>D-CDN\/A\/2\/66<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Smallpox outbreaks are noted through<\/span>out<\/span>\u00a0DHC’s col<\/span>l<\/span>ections<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and,\u00a0<\/span>thanks in part to the pioneering work of local man\u00a0<\/span>Benjamin Jesty<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0by the early nineteenth century vaccin<\/span>ation<\/span>\u00a0was\u00a0<\/span>spreading<\/span>\u00a0(<\/span>RON\/2\/2\/Sherborne\/188<\/span><\/a>).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The Parish Register of Martinstown notes the\u00a0<\/span>inoculation of the inhabitants of the parish against smallpox in 1807<\/span>\u00a0(PC-WSM<\/a>)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>However, even in the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>late\u00a0<\/span>1830’s around 42,00<\/span>0 British people lost their lives to smallpox. T<\/span>he WHO concluded in\u00a0<\/span>1980 that smallpox had been finally eradicated by a system of\u00a0<\/span>surveillance and containment which saw isolation combined with the vaccination of all contacts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Naval Isolation Hospital, Portland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Interestingly<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0there are several examples in our records of\u00a0<\/span>supposed outbreaks of illness post-inoculation, and not everybody trusted th<\/span>e new science.\u00a0<\/span>D-FIL\/F\/21<\/a> is a\u00a0<\/span>1757\u00a0<\/span>letter from John\u00a0<\/span>Clavill<\/span>\u00a0mentioning\u00a0<\/span>the smallpox outbreak and his correspondent’s objections to inoculation<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In\u00a0<\/span>the late nineteenth\u00a0<\/span>and early twentieth\u00a0<\/span>centur<\/span>ies<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>scarlet fever<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>polio,\u00a0<\/span>measles<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>or<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>diphtheria<\/span>\u00a0were\u00a0<\/span>every parent’s dread\u00a0<\/span>and again isolation\u00a0<\/span>was<\/span>\u00a0a key defence.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>In 1914 the Borough of Poole issued\u00a0<\/span>Regulations for the\u00a0<\/span>C<\/span>losure of\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>chools due to\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>nfectious\u00a0<\/span>D<\/span>iseases<\/span>\u00a0(PE-LOF\/SC\/5\/2<\/a><\/span>), whilst <\/span>S-66\/4\/3<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>shows C<\/span>o<\/span>rfe\u00a0<\/span>Castle\u00a0<\/span>School excluding children with infectious diseases in 1938<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Isolation or Fever Hospitals were common right across\u00a0<\/span>D<\/span>orset – with three contained within\u00a0<\/span>just\u00a0<\/span>the\u00a0<\/span>Bankes<\/span> estates!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These hospitals\u00a0<\/span>were mainly\u00a0<\/span>built to\u00a0<\/span>a Government<\/span>-recommended anti<\/span>-infection design – concrete an<\/span>d\u00a0<\/span>unadorned so they could be disinfected, and ‘cells’ were often arranged along a corridor or balcony<\/span>\u00a0to keep patients separate.\u00a0<\/span>Local communities were sometimes wary of\u00a0<\/span>having\u00a0<\/span>an Isolation\u00a0<\/span>H<\/span>ospital nearby, but a series of Public\u00a0<\/span>H<\/span>ealth\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>cts in the 18<\/span>90’s\u00a0<\/span>had\u00a0<\/span>made their provision\u00a0<\/span>by local authorities\u00a0<\/span>mandatory<\/span>\u00a0–\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>refore the<\/span>\u00a0hospitals are\u00a0<\/span>visible\u00a0<\/span>in DHC’s\u00a0<\/span>collections<\/span>. F<\/span>or example<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>t\u00a0<\/span>t<\/span>he\u00a0<\/span>D<\/span>orset\u00a0<\/span>C<\/span>ounty\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>sylum\u00a0<\/span>(later\u00a0<\/span>Herrison<\/span>\u00a0Hospital<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0the Visiting Committee minute book for 1893-1899 shows discussions about the site of an isolation unit<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>NG-HH\/CMR\/1\/1A\/8<\/span><\/a>)<\/span>. I<\/span>n 1933 we can find evidence of Poole <\/span>B<\/span>orough paying <\/span>wages\u00a0<\/span>for various staff at the\u00a0<\/span>A<\/span>lderney Isolation\u00a0<\/span>H<\/span>ospital<\/span>, including an ambulance driver and a ‘disinfector’.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From\u00a01855\u00a0to 1989\u00a0Bournemouth\u00a0was\u00a0the site of the National\u00a0Chest Hospital, and treated\u00a0thousands of patients with tuberculosis\u00a0in strict segregation from the townspeople.\u00a0The hospital, in\u00a0St Stephen’s Rd, is under-represented in our records, so if you have any memories or photographs to share with DHC\u00a0please contact us by email (archives@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk<\/a>). \u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the 1950’s improved diet, housing<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0sanitation and hygiene along with\u00a0<\/span>the national vaccination programme ha<\/span>s<\/span> meant that anxiety about infectious diseases has very much receded. However, t<\/span>he advent of\u00a0<\/span>C<\/span>ovid<\/span>-19<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>may make us reconsider some of the<\/span>\u00a0infection\u00a0<\/span>control strategies<\/span> of the past!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our current circumstances feel\u00a0so unexpected,\u00a0but\u00a0until recently\u00a0deadly\u00a0infectious diseases\u00a0were common\u00a0in\u00a0our UK\u00a0communities.\u00a0Various forms of\u00a0isolation have\u00a0been a common response, and the first of these were\u00a0medieval hospitals for\u00a0lepers.\u00a0Indeed, our records\u00a0show that\u00a0John De\u00a0Plyers\u00a0made a grant\u00a0of land in Parkstone to St. Margaret’s Hospital and\u00a0Leper\u00a0House\u00a0in the\u00a0thirteenth\u00a0or\u00a0fourteenth century.\u00a0 By the seventeenth\u00a0century ‘Pest Houses’ were\u00a0often provided by\u00a0parishes,\u00a0landowners\u00a0or\u00a0boroughs\u00a0and provided isolation and basic nursing.\u00a0\u00a0Among other examples,\u00a0Poole\u00a0Borough\u00a0Mayoral accounts\u00a0of… Read more Disease, Isolation and Vaccines<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[82,221,223,109,222],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1898"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1906,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1898\/revisions\/1906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}