Tuberculosis

Tealeaf said:
Changing the disease slightly, can any of you lot recall the dysentry outbreak in Accy sometime in the mid-1950's? I'm far too young to have been around at the time and was told about it by a medical historian about 10 years ago. I know it's normally a disease associated with the aftermath of third world floods and earthquakes but I doubt if Hyndburn was then third world (although some parts like Ossy now are).
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Found a PDF (googled) -Accy mentioned in 3rd para down on the left - 1955
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1981050/pdf/brmedj03227-0077.pdf
 
Cheers M, - although at the time I got the impression that this was a much larger outbreak and possibly later and isolated around Accy. It all seems now like a variation on E-Coli, although I doubt if at the time we were eating many of Johnny Dago's dodgy cucumbers or Heinrich Heinz's mean bean sprouts..

The same guy also told me a story about a mad dog rabies attack in Accy sometime in the late 19C - gruesome stuff, with kids having fingers and noses bitten off and ending up in the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

Anyone know about that tale?

Apparently the dogs name was Britcliffe.
 
Tealeaf said:
Cheers M, - although at the time I got the impression that this was a much larger outbreak and possibly later and isolated around Accy. It all seems now like a variation on E-Coli, although I doubt if at the time we were eating many of Johnny Dago's dodgy cucumbers or Heinrich Heinz's mean bean sprouts..

The same guy also told me a story about a mad dog rabies attack in Accy sometime in the late 19C - gruesome stuff, with kids having fingers and noses bitten off and ending up in the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

Anyone know about that tale?

Apparently the dogs name was Britcliffe.
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The reports on the dog attack appeared in the newspapers in October/November 1894.

PATIENTS FOR THE PASTEUR INSTITUTE>

Six persons, a married woman and five boys bitten by a mad dog left Accrington yesterday for the Pasteur Institute. One of the boys had two fingers bitten off and another had his nose almost severed.
A third had his thigh badly lacerated.

They were sent by public subscription and a Rabies order was put in place in Accrington.

Later newspaper reports say that one of the boys died whilst there and was buried in Paris

No mention of the Dogs Name
 
And there was even more gruesome stuff to follow (if I remember correctly):

Apparently, back in the 1920/30's - prior to the advent of the NHS - the Borough appointed a new District Health Officer. One of the first things he did was to check the local mortality stats and operations stats.

It turned out that our local surgeons were well into child butchery. Nationally, some 5% of kids had their tonsils removed...in Accy, the figure was 50%.

A bit of a scandal at the time.

I wish I could recall a little more from what I was told.
 
anzac said:
They were sent by public subscription and a Rabies order was put in place in Accrington.

Later newspaper reports say that one of the boys died whilst there and was buried in Paris

No mention of the Dogs Name
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And that, boys and girls, is surely a tale for our local historians.

Come on down Dobbo & Retlaw - and maybe Anzac!
 
Anyone can read about this story in the online newspapers - all you need is a current library card.

It was covered by the Blackburn Times which is online and a fascinating source of local information and stories about people in the 1800's.
 
anzac said:
Anyone can read about this story in the online newspapers - all you need is a current library card.

It was covered by the Blackburn Times which is online and a fascinating source of local information and stories about people in the 1800's.
Click to expand...

I'm quite sure they can and they no doubt they can read from other sources as well. But surely they have to know what they're looking for in the first place?
 
Can I just say, I was always under the impression we had an "Isolation Hospital" in Accrington, well ... Bash! If you go from Accrington, up Royds Avenue and stop just before Hollins School, you will notice a little date stone on the grass verge. Nearby is a little pathway, that leads to a gate, to a field. I was always told this was where "our" Isolation hospital was, but .. not sure on the date.
 

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I'm a bit late with this information. My Great Aunt and Uncle were caretakers of the isolation hospital in the 1940's. They were Emma and Hubert Mulhall. I remember visiting them on numerous occasions. Their house was I think prefabricated as I think was the hospital. They kept chickens and had a huge vegetable garden which during rationing was very useful. Between the hospital and house was afield of daffodils. It overlooked the valley with the steam train to Manchester. I remember particularly the sound of the wind in the telegraph wires and the cold!
They must have left in the late 40's, and I assume the buildings were then demolished.
 
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