London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Fulham 1903
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year ending December 31st, 1903
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34
On April Ist the order made by the London County Council
came into force which applied to Measles the sections of the
Public Health (London) Act relating to dangerous infectious
diseases, with the exception of those which deal with notifications.
Subsequent to this, 549 cases were reported to the
Medical Officer of Health by the teachers of the Board
Schools, and the premises in which the cases occurred were
disinfected by the Council, excepting those —50 in number —in
respect of which a certificate was received from a medical
practitioner that they had been disinfected to his satisfaction.
The distribution of the cases which came to the knowledge of the Sanitary Authority was as under:— TABLE XXVIII.
| Cases. | |
|---|---|
| Baron's Court Ward | 15 |
| Lillie „ | 181 |
| Walham „ | 34 |
| Margravine „ | 94 |
| Munster „ | 175 |
| Hurlingham „ | 3 |
| Sands End „ | 8 |
| Town „ | 39 |
| 549 |
Its extreme infectivity and the fact that this is probably
greatest in the pre-eruptive stage of the disease renders Measles
extremely difficult to control, but there is some hope that the
measures now taken may have some effect in educating the public
to an appreciation of the seriousness of a disease which kills
far more than all the other notifiable infectious diseases put
together, though generally looked upon as a trivial complaint,
and as I have frequently stated many lives would be saved
if some hospital accommodation could be provided for the
children of the poor when suffering from Measles, since a large
proportion of those who succumb to the disease would recover
if they could be removed from their unfavourable surroundings
and treated in a rational manner.