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The excess of deaths from Respiratory diseases and to
a less extent from Circulatory diseases must be attributed
to more temporary causes, namely, the Influenza
epidemic, as shown by the fact that the great excess of
deaths from these causes occurred in May and June,
when Influenza was prevalent, at a time when the
atmospheric conditions, usually associated with fatal
chest diseases, were absent.
Notification of
Infectious
Diseases.
We again express our satisfaction with the
working of the Infectious Diseases Notification
Act. It has been the means, in many instances, of
giving us most valuable information of the existence of
infectious illness, and the small number of deaths as
compared with former years shows that the means
adopted have been crowned with considerable success.
We have in former reports, as in this, drawn attention
to the high mortality that occurs year after year from
Measles and have expressed our opinion strongly that such
a state of matters should not be allowed to continue, without
some effort being made to prevent it. We presented a
Report in June to your Sanitary Committee on the
subject of the benefit likely to be obtained by adding
Measles to the list of diseases which must be notified.
Sub-joined is the Report
REPORT OF MEDICAL OFFICERS OF HEALTH
re NOTIFICATION OF MEASLES.
To the Sanitary Committee.
We beg to report that in accordance with the resolution passed at
the last Sanitary Committee, we have had under our consideration the
question of the advisability of adding measles to the list of infectious
diseases under the Notification Act.
This enactment has been in operation over a year, and we have
now considerable experience of its working and of the benefits derived
from it. We have found it to be of great advantage in enabling us to
take measures to check tho spread of those diseases to which it applies.
B