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22
ON THE SANITARY CONDITION OF
In the end of 1897 I called the attention of the School Board
to the fact that their regulation was not being observed in this
District and since then the teachers of Charing Cross Road and
Yere Street Schools have duly notified me. At that time measles
was very prevalent in Soho and lists of children absent were
furnished me by both St. Anne's and St. Patrick's Schools.
During the year I have also received lists of the children excluded
from St. Clement Danes School and have granted certificates
relating thereto. The teachers of this school were also good
enough to supply me with a list of 73 children who had been
exposed to infection by reason of a case of Scarlet Fever being
undetected in its early stages.
60 certificates related to Measles, 24 to Whooping Cough and
27 to Mumps which was very prevalent in the Strand portion of
the District from September on to the end of 1898.
Measles became epidemic in London in September 1897.
It appeared in Soho in October, and after affecting a large
number of susceptible children there, spread after the Christmas
holidays to the Strand part of the District. 13 deaths resulted,
giving a death.rate per 1,000 of population of 0.53. The rate
for London was 0.06 per 1,000 above the average (0.61) of the
preceding ten years.
The question of including Measles under the head of
"Dangerous and Infectious Disease," as defined for the purpose
of the "Public Health (London) Act," came up before your
Board for discussion in a new form. Hitherto it was sought by
various Authorities to make measles a notifiable disease, but this
did not receive general support. It is now stated that without
making it notifiable, it yet may be placcd among the diseases
mentioned in the Act, with the view of giving Local Authorities
power to proceed against persons who send their children to school
suffering from measles, or otherwise fail to take reasonable steps
to prevent spreading the disease. Your Board agreed that it was
desirable to include measles for these objects.
Whooping Cough was prevalent in the District, especially in
the Strand sub.district, from January to June, and caused four