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77
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
"No case in connection with the school has been notified
since the 20th December, but to prevent any further infection
of the school I have advised the Medical Officer to the Education
Department to examine all the children in the Infants'
Department specially, when the school is opened on the 13th
January. In addition to this precaution I have given instruction
to the Sanitary Inspectors to make a house-to-house
visitation of the homes of all the children attending the Girls'
and Infants' School to ascertain if there has been any sickness
during the time the school was closed.
"Roehampton has been for some years free from an outbreak
of Diphtheria, but on referring to the Annual Report
of the Medical Officer of Health for Putney for 1896, I find
that in November of that year a similar outbreak occurred in
connection with the school. The type of disease at that time
was extremely mild and although 23 cases were notified no
death occurred.
"All the cases which have occurred in the present outbreak
have been of a very mild type, and, as previously
stated, the majority would not have been recognised as Diphtheria
without a bacteriological examination. All the cases
removed to hospital are at the present time convalescent, and
no deaths have so far occurred.
"When the first case occurred I communicated with the
vicar of the parish and advised him to close the Sundayschools
until he heard further from me in the matter.
"The outbreak being now, in my opinion, at an end, I
have advised him that he might re-open the Sunday-schools
on the 12th January, and I have also advised the Education
Department, London County Council, that, in my opinion, the
day school could be re-opened on the 13th instant.
"The sewers and gullies in all the streets have been
examined and found to be in a satisfactory condition. The
gullies were thoroughly cleansed and disinfected."