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time, in three of the loads, no case of Diphtheria had been notified
of late, so that there was a very strong presumption that at any
rate the four who were simultaneously attacked, were infected by
some child attending the class. Moreover, in addition to these,
there were the three other children who had been attending that
class, who, though showing no clinical signs of Diphtheria at the
time of my inspection, had suspicious previous histories, and from
whom the Diphtheria Bacillus was subsequently isolated. Hence,
having regard to the prevalence of the disease in the district, its
special incidence on the children attending this class, and my
knowledge that not only had they been exposed to the infection of
mild, or perhaps I should say, Bacteriological Diphtheria, but also
to that of acute Diphtheria in the person of P.F., who was sent
from school so suffering, I had no hesitation in advising the
Sanitary Authority to require the closure of that class-room, and
also the exclusion of the children living in the same houses, as
otherwise there was, in my opinion, grave danger of a more
general outbreak in the school.
There was, I considered, no reason for any further steps to be
taken at that time, as the rest of the, school was not affected. The
only other recent case in the remaining classes of the Infants'
Department, with some 600 children on the roll, was one in class
" F," and at that time, as I have stated, I was under the
impression that this child was attending class " H."
In the Boy's Department, in addition to the two cases in
Standard 3, above-mentioned, a boy in Standard 1 was notified on
October 21st, and on enquiry, I ascertained that on October 14th,
a boy sitting next to him had vomited when in school, been
absent for a few days ill, and had then returned to school; but
on examining him in the school, I found him suffering from mild
Diphtheria, and at his home found his sister, who had been
attending the Infants' school, and had sickened after him, suffering
from the disease in a severe form, neither case having been
notified. There have been, however, no other primary cases
notified in this Department up to the present time.