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50
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
often as possible and examine the children, as he was of opinion
that this would be more effectual in arresting the outbreak than
closing the school and allowing the children to mix in the street and
places of amusement and to be without medical supervision.
On Friday, the 12th November, a definite request was made
from the Public Health Department to the London County Council,
Education Department, for the whole school to be closed for a
period of not less than three weeks so that thorough disinfection
could be carried out by the Council's staff. This request was
complied with, the school being closed from Monday the 15th
November, to Monday, the 6th December. The school was completely
disinfected by the Council's staff during the first week of the
closure and was afterwards cleansed by the London County Council
staff.
From September 8th to November 12th no houses were
visited by the Sanitary Inspector after notice from the school that
children attending from these houses were suffering from sore
throat. The parents were in all cases advised to have the children
seen by a Doctor. This advice was generally followed and resulted
in nine cases being discovered and notified.
From the 2nd September to the 15th November, the date on
which the school was closed, 38 cases were notified, and from the
latter date to the end of the year, seven further cases were notified,
making a total of 45 cases in all.
The cases generally were of an exceedingly mild type without
clinical symptoms of any kind, and many of them were only discovered
on bacteriological examination, two only of them proving
fatal.
Of the total number of cases notified 51 were incorrectly
diagnosed, compared with 42 in 1914, leaving a total of 672 actual
cases, compared with 510 in 1914, 376 in 1913, and 390 in 1912.