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26
It must be noted that the circular letter of the London County
Council restricts its enquiry to the question whether it he advisable
that the Council should include "Measles" in the term "Dangerous
and Infectious Disease" for the purposes set out in certain named
sections of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. The Council
desire to obtain the opinion of the Council of this Borough as to
whether they are in favour of the extension to measles of any or all
of the sections quoted. Mr. Gomme, the Clerk to the Council,
expressly draws attention to the exclusion from the reference of
Sections 55 and 56 of the Act which relate to the question of
notification. I am of opinion that without compulsory notification
by the medical attendant in some form, any action under the sections
named would be extremely limited, as we could only deal with the
fatal cases. I am furnished weekly with particulars of these by the
local registrars, but by the time the lists are to hand the period for
useful action has usually passed. Sections 72 and 74 of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1891, which deal with the retention in unsuitable
places of the dead bodies of persons who have died from
infectious disease, would occasionally be found useful if the information
of the death from the registrars were to hand sufficiently
early. Disinfection, as required by sections 60, 61, 62 and 74, could
be enforced in fatal cases, and sections 63, 64 and 65 which relate
to the letting of infected rooms and houses could occasionally be
usefully applied. Sections 69 and 70 deal with the isolation of
infected persons so as to check the spread of disease, but they could
not be enforced with respect to measles, as penalties can only be
inflicted where the offenders knowingly break the law. It s
already sufficiently difficult to prove "knowledge" to the satisfaction
of a police court Magistrate before whom cases of infraction of the
law as to notifiable disease are taken, but the attempt would be
hopeless in the case of a non-notifiable disease upon such vague
information as we are likely to get from school officials and others.
As there is no hospital for measles, sections 66 and 73, which
relate to removal, would be useless unless the London County
Council agreed to provide hospital accommodation for cases of this
disease.