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In May there was an outbreak of Diphtheria among the girls in the
second standard at Harwood Road Board School, six children living in
Fulham and one living in Chelsea being notified as suffering from Diphtheria
between May 19th and May 26th, and as these children did not live near
together, and there were no other children in any of the other classes of the
school affected, it was most probable that they were infected in the class-room
itself by some child who was suffering from a mild and unrecognised form of
the disease, and accordingly the Vestry, at their meeting on May 26th, on my
recommendation, passed a resolution requiring the Managers " to close the
room occupied by the girls' second standard, and known as Class Room C
for a period of fourteen days, and to exclude from the school the girls in the
second standard, and also the children residing in the same houses as
those girls."
This was at once done, the class room being closed from May 27th to
June 9th, with satisfactory results, as excluding secondary cases occurring
in the same family, there were only two other cases among the children
attending that school, who were notified on May 31st and June Ist
respectively, but on June 7th four children residing in a house in New
Kings Road were notified as suffering from Diphtheria, and on investigation
it was ascertained that another member of the family, who was in
the second standard in the girls' department at Harwood Road School, had
been ill with a sore throat about a fortnight or three weeks before, but the
illness had been of so mild a character that no medical practitioner had been
called in. This child had probably had a mild attack of Diphtheria, and
as she was attending school up to May 26th, when the school was
closed, it is quite possible that the outbreak in the particular class-room
originated with her.
HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION.
As in July the accommodation at the Hospitals for Diphtheria showed
signs of exhaustion, and there was at times some delay in the removal of
patients, the Vestry again urged the Managers of the Metropolitan Asylum's
Board, in view of the relative fatality of the two diseases, to provide more
beds for cases of Diphtheria, even if by so doing they had to lessen their
accommodation for cases of Scarlet Fever, and a reply was received from
the Managers to the effect that this would be done.