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provisions of the Public Health Act, but also to measles, chicken-pox, mumps, and whoopingcough.
Moreover, the teachers are required to give notice to the medical officer of health of any
children whom they exclude from school on account of infectious disease.
The following is extracted from the code of regulations and instructions issued by the
School Board of London for the guidance of managers, correspondents, and teachers—
Infectious Diseases—Notification.
(II.) The following infectious diseases are dealt with under the Public Health (London) Act, 1891,
as notifiable diseases—
Small Pox. Scarlatina.
Cholera. Scarlet Fever, and the fevers known by any of the
Diphtheria. following names—Typhus, typhoid, enteric,
Membranous Croup. and relapsing.
Erysipelas.
Any child showing symptoms of any of the above infectious diseases, or any child coming from a
house where such an infectious disease exists, must be sent home at once, and the superintendent of
visitors must be immediately informed of the case, care being taken to state the name of the child
infected, in order that inquiries may at once be made with a view to proper steps being taken to prevent
the children living in the same house or tenement from attending school. The medical officer of health
for the district must also at the same time be informed of the child's exclusion, and furnished with the
name and address of the child, and the reason for its exclusion, on a form with which the teachers will
be supplied by the head office.
Under the provisions of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, the medical officer of health must,
whenever a case of notifiable infectious disease shall, in the first instance, come under his notice, forward
direct to the head teacher of a school attended by a scholar suffering from an infectious disease, or
attended by any child who is an inmate of the same house as the patient, a certificate notifying the fact.
The notification certificate of the medical officer of health will be received by the head teacher,
who must at once see that the communication is sent to the other head teacher, or head teachers, of the
other department, or departments, of the school concerned, and each head teacher must initial and
date the certificate.
When the teacher has received this notification from the medical officer of health, and taken all
necessary action, he should note upon the certificate the action taken, endorse it with his name and the
name of the school, and also state upon it whether the patient is a scholar of the school, and, if so, the
department of the school which the patient attended before illness, and forward it immediately to the
head office, addressed "The Medical Officer, School Board for London, Victoria-embankment, W.C."
The teacher should likewise send notice of the case to the superintendent of visitors, if tha thas not
already been done, on a form to be supplied for the purpose from the head office, care being taken to
state the name of the child or family infected.
Children excluded because of a notifiable infectious disease, or because of such an infectious disease
in the houses in which they live, must not be allowed to return to school unless a certificate has been
received from the medical officer of health, stating that the premises are free from infection. Head
teachers will note that the certificate forwarded by the medical officer of health merely states that the
premises from which the children come are free from infection, and does not certify that the children
are in a condition to be permitted to resume attendance at school, for it may be that, though the premises
are free from infection, the children coming from such premises may be sickening for an infectious
disease. It will be necessary therefore for a further period of seven days to elapse before the return of
such children to school, unless the medical officer of health shall specially certify that a longer period of
absence is necessary.
In the event of the head teacher not receiving the certificate stating that the premises are free from
infection, it becomes his duty to send to the offices of the local authority in order that he may procure it.
Infectious Diseases not notifiable but to be excluded.
(III.) The following infectious diseases are not dealt with as notifiable by the Public Health
(London) Act, 1891—
Measles. Chicken-pox.
Mumps. Whooping-cough.
Any child showing symptoms of any of the above diseases, or any child coming from a house where
such a disease exists, must be sent home at once, and the superintendent of visitors must be immediately
informed of the casa, care being taken to state the name of the child or family infected. The medical
officer of health for the district must also at the same time be informed of the child's exclusion, and
furnished with the name and address of the child and the reason for its exclusion on a form with which
the teachers will be supplied by the head office.
Children suffering from measles must be excluded for at least one month. Children coming from
houses where measles exists, but who are not themselves suffering from the disease, must be excluded
from school for two weeks.
Children suffering from mumps must be excluded for one month. Children coming from houses in
which mumps exists, but who are not themselves suffering from the disease, should be excluded from
school for such time as the medical attendant on the case deems necessary. In cases where there has
been no medical attendant, children should be excluded from school for three weeks.
Children suffering from chicken-pox should be excluded for at least two weeks. Children coming
from houses where chicken-pox exists, but who are not themselves suffering from the disease, must be
excluded from school for two weeks.
Children suffering from whooping-cough must be excluded as long as the cough continues. Children
coming from houses in which whooping-cough exists, but who are not themselves suffering from the
disease, must be excluded from school for two weeks.
(IV.) Children suffering from ringworm, erysipelas, or ophthalmia (blight), must be excluded from
school, and the superintendent of visitors must be immediately informed of such exclusion, and before
their readmission a medical certificate should be produced, stating that the child is cured. Whenever
such certificates are not readily procurable, the teachers should exercise their discretion as to admitting
the children.
Children coming from houses in which ringworm, ophthalmia and erysipelas exist, but who are not
themselves suffering from the disease, should not be excluded from the school.
(V.) If any children should show symptoms of any kind of infectious or contagious disease not
mentioned in the above regulations, or should be known to come from a house where such an infectious
disease exists, they must be excluded from the school, and the head teacher must at once write to the
head office for instructions, and at the same time send a note to the medical officer of health, and to the
divisional superintendent, of the case.
(VI.) Whenever teachers communicate with the medical officer of health for the district relative to
an outbreak of infectious disease in the schools, they must at the same time communicate with the
medical officer of the board.
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