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47
SPECIAL REPORT ON THE "COMPULSORY
NOTIFICATION OF MEASLES."
(Presented to the Vestry, and adopted, on March 1st, 1900).
With reference to the letter from the Vestry of Battersea advising
that Measles shall be made a notifiable infectious disease in
London, I have to state that I have nothing further to add to my
Report, which was presented to, and adopted by, the Vestry on
the 18th February, 1897 (Annual Report, 1898, page 18), a Report
in which I pointed out that Notification was not advisable at
present, the expense being out' of all proportion to the benefits
likely to be gained, chiefly owing (1) to the want of proper hospital
isolation accommodation; (2) to the infectious nature of the
disease in its early stages; (3) the very young ages of the patients
affected.
I am, however, of opinion that much good would accrue from
the inclusion of Measles in the term "Dangerous Infectious
Diseases," in the Public Health (London) Act, 1891. By this
means, the prevention "Sections of the Act (without notification),
would apply to Measles, and would be the means of impressing
upon the people its dangerous nature, and the importance
of stringent measures being taken in connection therewith. It is
a common experience in visiting Measles-infected houses, to find
infected children out in the street, or at school, instead of being
kept indoors to prevent the spread of the disease and the afterconsequences
that arise through too early exposure to cold. In
only a percentage of cases is it found that medical men are in
attendance at all, thus shewing that at present, parents regard the
disease as a trifling one, although Measles causes almost as many
deaths as the whole of the Notifiable Infectious Diseases combined.
Measles is a highly infectious disease, which attacks chiefly
young children under the age of five years, amongst whom it
causes a high rate of mortality. In Lambeth, during the last ten