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Dr. Carter found it necessary to send only one case to hospital and that was because the mother
could not be depended upon and the child had been ill for some time previous to the attack. He
discovered that when the disease is detected in the earlier stages the cases can be dealt with in their
own homes, even if the hygienic surroundings are not entirely satisfactory. Rooms can be kept
cool when both window and door are open. The mothers can be taught to wash their hands after
touching soiled napkins.
At the end of September, after the scheme had been discontinued for 1925, Dr. Carter visited
all patients he had treated and which had been attended by the District Nurses; and he found
that the majority had returned to normal health and that no serious complications had resulted.
He feels sure that the good results were mainly due to the fact that he kept the children on a
non-irritating diet until all the dyspepsia had disappeared and then cautiously changed the food
until they had returned to a normal diet.
In a report which was presented to the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, Dr. Carter
paid a high tribute to the work of the Nurses of the Kensington District Nursing Association and
the Council's Women Health Officers.
Other Notifiable Diseases.—With the exception of tuberculosis, which is dealt with in a
separate section, no notifiable infectious diseases, other than those to which reference has been
made, were notified during the year.
NON-NOTIFIABLE DISEASES
Measles.—This disease ceased to be compulsorily notifiable in December, 1919, but the Head
Teachers of the London County Council schools report to Medical Officers of Health all cases, both
of children suffering from measles and of children kept away from school by reason of the disease
existing in their homes.
In view of the dangerous complications which are liable to follow neglected cases of measles,
the Women Health Officers pay a great deal of attention to children suffering from this disease in
the poorer quarters of the Borough. Five hundred and thirty-four visits to cases of measles were
paid by these officers during the year.
The number of cases admitted to hospital was 144.

In view of the high fatality of this disease compared with scarlet fever, the general policy
pursued in most districts in the country of giving priority of admission to isolation hospitals of
cases of scarlet fever is a matter which calls for consideration. The destructive nature of measles
as compared with scarlet fever is well shown by an examination of their respective death rates
during the last 15 years in London. Of every million people living during that period, 251 died
annually from measles and 42 from scarlet fever. Of cases of measles treated in the Metropolitan
Asylum Board's hospitals during the same period, numbering 28,266, the case mortality was 10 6
per cent., whereas for scarlet fever, numbering 194,975 cases, it was only 15 per cent.
The primary object in view in admitting scarlet fever patients to isolation hospitals to the
full extent of accommodation available is the limitation of the spread of the disease, and it must
be conceded that this measure of prevention has not been attended with that success which had
been expected when isolation hospitals were first established throughout the country.
In view of these facts, and recognising that the ultimate object of all Public Health effort is the
saving of human life, I am inclined to think that selected cases of measles occurring in tenement
houses where there is an absence of facilities for home nursing should be given priority of removal
to cases of scarlet fever in which the attack is mild and the home conditions such as to permit
the patient being isolated.
Whooping Cough —There were 18 deaths from this cause. The deaths in the three preceding
years were 27, 23 and 20. The Women Health Officers paid 157 visits to cases of this disease during
the year. The number of cases admitted to hospital was 62.