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47
which there was a sufferer from Measles, irrespective of their ages
and of the circumstance as to whether or not they had previously
suffered from the complaint.
It is an extremely difficult matter to say whether or not the new
Regulation has led to an increased prevalence of Measles among
children of the school ages, and the difficulty arises from the circumstance
that it is impossible to collect the actual facts of the
prevalence of Measles during a sufficient number of past years.
Measles is not a notifiable disease, and we have to obtain our
information of its prevalence from the School Authorities, who can
only give us the facts so far as children of the school ages are concerned.
Even with this limitation, the information they could give
us would probably suffice to indicate what we require to know,
if it could be obtained for a sufficient number of years; but the
figures of actual Measles cases among scholars in the Elementary
Schools of London only date back from the year 1906 inclusive (vide
Dr. Kerr's Annual Reports). In 1906, 18,89*9 such cases were
notified amongst school children; in 1907, 26,179; in 1908, 19,38.5;
in 1909, 20,145. These returns of only 4 years do not suffice for
our purpose. It is necessary to have the figures of prevalence covering
at least 1 or 5 two-yearly periods, for Measles outcrop fairly
regularly every 2 years in London, and the dimensions of the bi-annual
outcrops have varied considerably during recent years. The outcrop
year of 1907 furnished 26,179 cases of Measles among the Elementary
School children of London. That was a pre-regulation year.
The year 1909 (a post-regulation year) furnished 20,145. This
represents a material reduction. But similar variations have
occurred in previous outcrop years, and, after all, it would be absurd
Vo argue that the Regulation could have had any effect in the
direction of reducing the amount of infection.
Enquiries have been made at the local schools, but I find that
the value of the local evidence is discounted from the circumstance
that the school registers do not discriminate between school children
who are actually suffering and those who are kept at home on account
of Measles in other children. I have been informed that in future