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1910] 164
The history of the disease during the year, as contained in reports presented
by the Medical Officer of Health to the Public Health Committee, is
narrated below—
On November Tth, the Medical Officer of Health reported as follows:—
" You will possibly have noticed that since the resumption of the meetings
of your Committee after the vacation I have reported an increasing number of
cases of Measles on each successive occasion ; and I have now again to report that
during the last fortnight 258 cases have been notified by the teachers of the
Public Elementary Schools, compared with 199 in the preceding fourteen days.
" Measles is a disease which is always more or less prevalent in the Borough,
having its greatest incidence, as judged by the deaths, in the first and second
quarters of the year, and its least in the third and fourth.
" This year up to the middle of May, the average number of cases notified
by the teachers did not exceed 4 per week. They, however, then commenced
to increase, so that in the third and fourth weeks of that month 1
received 11 and 43 notifications respectively.
"In the following week, which was the first week in June, the number was
(JO, in its second week 47, and in its third 70. In its fourth week, the 25th
week of the year, the number fell to 38, being followed by 41 in the 26th
week. In the first three weeks of the third quarter the number of cases fell
to 28, 26 and 17, respectively, which brought the period up to the summer
holidays. The schools were then closed until the last week in August, and
during this period I heard of no cases. On the week after their opening, however,
7 cases were notified, which was followed from week to week up to the
present time by 4, 16, 30, 43, 50, 106, 93, 106, 103 and 155, which brings us
to the week ending November 5th.
" It is perhaps unfortunate that no particulars as to the number of cases
that occurred in former years are available by which to judge the extent of
the present outbreak, but this may possibly be measured by contrasting the
number of deaths that were registered in the corresponding periods of preceding
years. On examining these figures I find that from 1891 to 1900 the
number of deaths which occurred in the period extending from the 34th to
the end of the 44th weeks, that is to say, the period from the annual holidays
up to the 44th week of the year, averaged 12, and in the nine years