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However, there is the problem! Perhaps a more widespread
use of the clinical thermometer might help to solve some of the
difficulty.
Measles. The Measles and Whooping Cough (Amendment)
Regulations, 1948, came into operation on 1st April, 1948.
The effect of the Regulations is_ to retain the compulsory notification
of Measles and Whooping Cough which was introduced
by the Regulations of 1940 as a temporary measure during the
war. The fee for notification becomes the statutory fee of 2/6d.
instead of the 1/- in the 1940 Regulations.
There were 1,049 cases of Measles during the year, as compared
with 347 last year and 568 for the previous year. It is a
matter for gratification that out of this very large number of
cases there is not a single death attributed to this disease. I
have prepared a table showing the incidence of Measles for
previous years. Up to 1939 the biennial character of the
disease is well shown and the column showing the mortality from
the disease demonstrates the great change that has taken place
in the past decade.
When it is remembered that the numbers up to 1939 were
confined to school children our present rate of incidence, also
bearing in mind an increase in population, is no higher than in
the pre-war years. There is even a trace still of its biennial
character. It may well be that this characteristic was obscured
when the under five group came to be included. The present low
mortality would hardly justify any preventive measure that
carried any risk of its own and, until a serum can be prepared
without the possibility of producing such serious complications
as homologous serum jaundice and while the disease remains
so mild, there would seem to be a limited scope for the
widespread use of Measles prophylactics.
It may be of interest that Measles was being notified in
Merton and Morden as far back as 1908, under the Infectious
Diseases Notification Act, 1889, the Council having decided
to make this disease notifiable in accordance with their powers
under the Act. In 1909 alone it is reported that Measles was
responsible for 153 out of a total 258 notifications of infectious
disease, at the same time as the question of the continuation
of notification was being discussed by the Council on the grounds
of expense. That year there was one death from the disease. In
1912, an epidemic year, there were again 406 cases with eight
deaths of "under-five year olds" and the question of the value
of notification again under consideration. The opinion seemed
to be that notification was of little value because it was ineffective
in securing speedy isolation in epidemic circumstances and
further, the cost of disinfection was a financial burden. It is
interesting to note that isolation was still regarded as the
primary method of control of an epidemic like Measles.
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