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recognised cases the Medical Officer of Health will be able to take
action which may often prevent the spread of the disease and
secure improved care for sufferers, thus reducing the proportion
of fatal cases and of disabling complications. One means which
will be at his disposal will be the power to give information of
cases to school teachers. Each case notified should be regarded
as a means of discovering other cases, for it is recognised that
cases not seen by a doctor constitute a chief risk of the spread of
the infection and of a fatal result in the individual patient. Again,
it is recognised that as a large proportion of the fatal cases of
Measles occur in infancy, removal to hospital is difficult, while
the explosive character of epidemics makes it unlikely that the
majority of cases can ever be treated in hospitals. It is thought,
however, that all Sanitary Authorities should make some provision
for the hospital treatment of a certain number of cases. The
average number of deaths occurring annually during recent years
in England and Wales from Measles is 11,000, the great majority
being in children under 5 years of age, but during the first half
of 1915 the number of deaths was 12,414, and representations have
been made to the Local Government Board by the Army Council
to the effect that Measles has caused a large amount of disablement
among the troops in this country, and that accurate information
of the presence of the disease among the civil population
would be valuable to the Military Authorities.
In Measles and Whooping Cough the proportion of deaths
to those who suffer is not high; but, as there are so many
sufferers, the number of deaths from Measles exceed those from
Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, and Typhoid Fever combined, when
Measles is prevalent in London. If, with the assistance of the
compulsory notification of the disease, the measures that we find
it possible to take succeed in postponing infection in many cases,
and in impressing parents and guardias of the seriousness of the
disease, and of the evil effects and complications that often result
from neglect to take proper care of the sufferers during and for
some weeks after the attack, much good will result to the community.
The disease has been practically neglected by most
Public Health Authorities for far too long, and every effort
possible w ill be made in Stoke Newington to turn to the best
account the information that we shall receive through the compulsory
notification of the disease. Meanwhile the few cases being