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disease before it can be recognized, and then the fact that
in large numbers of cases a Medical man is not called in
to attend, and that it is frequently impossible, even when
the case is certified, to procure isolation either at home
or in a hospital. To make the notification of Measles of
any real use it would have to be as complete as it is now,
I believe, in the case of Scarlet Fever (a thing which is
absolutely impossible for the reasons stated above),
Isolation Hospitals would have to be provided, and
parents persuaded to allow their children to be sent to
them, which, especially considering that Measles is most
fatal during the second year of life, they certainly would
not in the vast majority of instances consent to do, and
the sanitary staff would have to be very considerably
increased, especially during the prevalence of epidemics,
in order to make the necessary investigations, to secure
the isolation or removal of the patients when consent was
obtained, and to carry out disinfection, etc.
A measure that I have often found useful in controlling
epidemics of this disease is the closure of the Infants'
Departments of Schools in which outbreaks have occurred,
and I am satisfied that this is a most important method
of checking the disease, if adopted soon enough.
The idea is prevalent in some quarters that the closure
of Schools is of little use, because if the children are not
in School they are playing about in the court-yards and
streets, as if an infected person were as dangerous to
those around him in the open air as in a crowded Schoolroom.
The absurdity of such an idea is at once obvious.
I may add that the simple precaution of taking care
of children who are recovering from Measles, so as to
prevent them catching cold, will do more to reduce the
mortality from this disease than anything else.
I have said nothing as yet about the additional cost
which would be incurred by you, as the Sanitary