§ Mr. Viantasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is aware that an assistant medical officer was called in to examine three separate cases about which private doctors at Methilhill were in doubt and diagnosed them as chickenpox, although two of them were subsequently described by the experts as typical textbook cases of smallpox; and what explanation he has for the medical officer's inability to recognise smallpox?
Mr. JohnstonI am aware that some of the original cases of smallpox at Methilhill were at first diagnosed as chickenpox by the assistant medical officer called in by the medical attendants. I am advised that the diagnosis of smallpox in its early stages is not always easy.