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97
London County Council.
Notice to
The Parent or Guardian.
From
The Head Teacher Dept.,
School.
Diphtheria being present in the district, and your child having
exhibited some symptoms of the disease, namely, sore throat, you are
requested, in the interests of your own child and of the other children, to
keep at home. A medical certificate, based upon bacteriological
examination, stating that is free from infection, should be obtained
before presenting the child for re-admission to school.
This certificate can be obtained, free of cost, from the Medical Officer
of Health for the district by those who have no private doctor.
Show this card to the doctor.
Date
Signature.
The following letter was addressed to all practitioners within the
Borough:—
Metropolitan Borough of Poplar,
Public Health Department,
Bow Road, E.
27th November, 1908.
Dear Sir,
Re Diphtheria.
The London County Council have considered and passed the following
resolution, viz.:—
That the Education Committee be authorised to refuse, during
the presence of diphtheria in any district, re-admission to school of
children excluded on account of diphtheria or sore throat until such
properly. It is essential that the swab should be firmly rubbed on any patch of
membrane and not contaminated by contact with the teeth and anterior parts of the
mouth. This is, of course, difficult to do with many young children without causing
them some distress. There is nothing fresh in the way of directions as to taking
swabbings.
Whether the delay in the swab reaching us was responsible for the failure to detect
diphtheritic bacillus is doubtful. They are often easily cultivated from dried-up swabs
several days old. As a matter of routine, however, it is doubtless best that they should
be submitted to examination as soon as possible.
(Signed) A. E. BOYCOTT,