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sickening for an infectious disease. It will be necessary,
therefore, for a further period of seven days to elapse
before the return of such children to school, unless the
Medical Officer of Health shall specially certify that a
longer period of absence is necessary.
(8) No child who has been in an infectious disease hospital
should return to school for at least a fortnight after
discharge from the hospital.
(9) The London County Council have passed the following
resolution in respect to diphtheria:—
"That the Education Committee be authorised to refuse, during
the presence of diphtheria in any district, readmission to school of
children excluded on account of diphtheria or sore throat until such
children shall have obtained a medical certificate of freedom from
infection, based on a bacteriological examination."
In the event of diphtheria becoming prevalent in a district the
school teachers will therefore be instructed not to readmit any child
who is absent from sore throat or diphtheria, until they receive a
certificate of freedom from diphtheria, based on the results of
a bacteriological examination. The Medical Officer of Health
will be kept informed of any such orders to teachers. A card
will be used for such cases when they are sent home from school,
giving the reason for exclusion, and stating that the certificate
can be signed by the patient's own doctor, or, if necessary, the
Medical Officer of Health can be communicated with and will
give such certificate, when the child is free from infection. The
present occasion may possibly afford an opportunity for me to
draw the attention of medical practitioners in the Borough to the
importance of bacteriological recognition of diphtheria and the
fact that when diphtheria is prevalent only certificates based on
bacteriological diagnosis will be accepted at once as satisfactory.
The necessity of a gradual education of the public to the
importance of this step forward, will justify its application being
gradual, and only to schools where diphtheria is actually prevalent
and threatening.