View report page

32
MEASLES.
the working of the Order it can be said that one effect has been to impress on the minds of a
large section of the community, the fact that measles is not a disease to be trifled with, and there
is little room for doubt that greater care is now exercised in dealing with the disease. The
Order, however, is inoperative to some extent for the following reasons. The disease not
being scheduled for notification, few families except those sending children to the Public
Elementary Schools receive anv visits from the Staff of the Department. Even among that
section of the communitv verv little is done during the school holidays, as the registration of
fatal cases is then practically the only source of information of cases. In homes which are
not visited by the Staff the old regime prevails, and disinfection is rarely practised. A decision
given at the Marvlebone Police Court has shown that the penal clauses of the Public
Health (London) Act relating to infectious diseases cannot be enforced in the absence of anv
medical evidence as to the nature of the illness. An admission on the part of the parent or
guardian that he (she) knew the patient had measles, was held to be insufficient evidence for
a conviction.
Although the compulsory powers implied by the Order are to a large extent noneffective,
much useful work has been accomplished and refusals to comply with the requirements
of the Department as regards isolation, disinfection, See., have been rare. It is
anticipated that greater familiarity with the Order will result in convincing the public that
the benefits accruing from its provisions are worth seeking, and that an increasing proportion
of the cases of the disease will be brought to the knowledge of the Department by voluntary
notification.
A few examples of carelessness in dealing with cases, discovered during the past year,
will show the need of supervision by the Sanitary Authority.
D. N. sickened with measles in the first week of January. She attended school on the first day of term
(Jan. 11th), but was sent home by the teacher, who suspected that the child was ill with measles.
She was sent to school again on Jan. 12th and loth, but not afterwards. The case was reported
to the Department by the school on the 18th, and the house was visited on the 19th. The mother
admitted that D. N. had the eruption out on Jan. 12th and 13th, on which days the child was sent to
school. D. N.'s brother was found in bed ill with measles in a tireless room. To keep him warm
various garments belonging to other members of the family were on the bed. The mother was
attending the patients and also making a dress for a customer, which dress was to have been delivered
on the day the Inspector called. She was urged (unsuccessfully) to obtain medical advice for the
two patients, and for her other two children who were later on found to be ailing. 1). X. and her
brother were sent to school on Feb. 1st, but refused admission as the quarantine period (one month)
prescribed by the Code of the School Board had not expired.
D. G. was sent home from school on Jan. 25th by the teacher, who thought the child was sickening for
measles. The child did not return to school but the brother continued his attendance. It was not
until Feb. 5th that a confession was obtained that D. G. had passed through an attack of the disease
the brother continuing his attendance the meanwhile.
In one instance in the southern part of the Borough a patient was found in the kitchen cared for by the
mother and sister, who were doing mangling in the same, room, for customers. The Inspector was
able to secure better accommodation for the patient in another part of the house, and the washing
was disinfected before leaving the premises.
In another case the patient fa boy) was found playing with other children in the street, he having the
eruption well out. His parents professed themselves unable to control the lad.
R. D. sickened Dec. 25th, 1903; brother A., minded by Mrs. M. from Dec. 28th to Jan. 1st; another brother,
W., sickened Jan. 1st; A. sickened Jan. 4th, but still sent to Mrs. M., who had one child, N., of her
own, and from Jan. 20th to 22nd had charge of another child, F. J.: N. M. sickened Jan. 22nd, and
died Jan. 31st: F. J. sickened Jan. 23rd. Mrs. D. continued her work as laundry washer continuously