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is, of course, a counsel of perfection to expect parents of the
poorer class, living as many of them have to do, with several
children in two or three rooms, to secure isolation, but many
lives would be saved if they would only learn to regard the disease
as a dangerous one, and exercise due care in protecting the
patients, more especially in the earlier stages, from complications,
which, in the majority of instances, give rise to a fatal
issue.
Measles is chiefly spread through the medium of schools,
especially the infant departments. Closure of these latter
should, during the earlier stages of an outbreak, be more freely
resorted to, and would tend to reduce the high rate of mortality
from this disease in the Metropolis.
It will be remembered that in 1903 new powers were granted
to the Local Authority in respect of measles, which was to be
treated as a dangerous infectious disease, to which all the
provisions of the infectious disease sections of the Public Health
(London) Act were made applicable, with the exception of
notification. During 1907, however, 931 cases of measles were
reported to the Medical Officer of Health by the Head Teachers
of the Public Elementary Schools. This practice has proved
to be of considerable assistance in checking the spread of
infection.
Below will be found a table giving a list of schools, and
showing the number of cases of non-notifiable infectious diseases
reported during 1907.