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135
[1905
There can be no doubt that school attendance is a fruitful cause of the
spread of Measles, and it has not yet been practically settled how best to deal
with it.
It has already been pointed out in this report that Dr. Kerr, of the
Education Department of the London County Council, has been investigating
this matter in Woolwich, and that it is hoped that before long some practical
method available for the whole County of London may be discovered.
It is said that if the disease is to be prevented, the class-room in which the
cases have appeared should be closed as soon as two or three have occurred,
but that before doing this due consideration should be given to the number
of scholars in the class-room who have already had the disease, and are
therefore protected from further attacks. In order to obtain this information
it will be necessary for the London County Council to order their teachers
to present a periodical return of these scholars to the Medical Officers of
Health of the various Boroughs, so that they may consider the advisability or
otherwise of closing the school or class-rooms, for without this knowledge
it will be impossible for him to come to a proper conclusion.
It will not be sufficient for the Medical Officer of the Education Department
to alone receive this information, for then it is apparent that he would
be in a better position than the Medical Officer of Health to judge of the
necessity of closing the school, which, of course, would be an intolerable
position for those officers who alone are responsible for the state of health of
their district. It is very doubtful if this information can be obtained, and if
obtained, that it would be accurate, and if inaccurate it would be more than
useless, for it would be misleading.
In Islington the schools have been very closely watched, and it must be
confessed that in several schools which were not closed when a few cases of
measles had occurred, the disease has not spread, and, therefore, the question
arises whether or not a grave injustice would have been done to the schools
by the closure of these class-rooms immediately these few cases were known.
On the other hand, there are schools where the class-rooms were not closed
when a few cases occurred, and where subsequently a considerable number of
cases followed.
In dealing with this matter, one cannot dismiss from his mind the
responsibility that is incurred in prematurely closing a school or a class room,
because of the seriousness of the matter, both for the scholars, the teachers