London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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203
Report of the County Medical Officer—Education.
The numbers of schools and departments under special observation during the year for diphtheria scarlet fever and measles are shown in the following table:—
| Disease. | Departments. | Total numbers of departments. | Total numbers of schools. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys. | Girls. | Mixed. | Infants. | Special. | |||
| Diphtheria | 60 | 93 | 30 | 269 | 2 | 454 | 333 |
| Scarlet fever | 245 | 337 | 97 | 542 | 5 | 1,226 | 642 |
| Measles | 20 | 41 | 25 | 749 | 3 | 838 | 754 |
Schools
under special
observation
for infectious
disease.
The subjoined table shows the number of closures of departments or classrooms and special exclusions of groups of children which were resorted to during the year for the purpose of preventing the spread of infection.
| Number of occasions on which exclusions or closures were carried out. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet fever. | Measles. | Whooping cough. | Co-existence of diphtheria, scarlet fever and measles. | Co-existence of measles and whooping cough. | |
| Departments closed | 1 ( for 1 day for purposes of disinfection) | 5 | 1 | - | - |
| Classrooms closed | 4 (lroomfor 1 day only forpurposes of disinfection) | 23 | 1 | 3 | - |
| Exclusion of all children under 5 years of age... | - | 26 | 69 | - | 4 |
| Exclusion of all unprotected children under 5 years of age | - | 46 | - | - | - |
| Exclusion of unprotected children from whole of infants' department | - | -17 | - | - | - |
| Exclusion of unprotected children from individual classes | - | 2,430 | - | - | - |
| Exclusion by local medical officers of health acting under Article 57 of the Board of Education Code. | - | - | - | - | - |
| Departments closed | 1 | 3 | - | — | - |
| Exclusion of all children under 5 years of age | - | 6 | - | - | — |
Children from 20 poor law institutions attend schools maintained by the Council. Correspondence
has taken place with the Guardians with a view to securing co-operation in carrying out
the regulations of the Council as to the exclusion of children from school on account of infectious
diseases. As a result the superintendents of the Poor Law Homes have been provided with books
of notification forms whereon they may report cases of infection to the head teachers of schools
concerned. In the event of any departure from the Council's regulations respecting the exclusion
of children from school being desired, provision is made that a duplicate of the form containing
reasons for excentional treatment shall be forwarded to the School Medical Officer for endorsement.
Infectious
diseases in
Poor Law
Institutions.
The incidence of infectious disease upon the Council's industrial schools and residential special
schools has been comparatively low and, with the exception of an outbreak of scarlet fever at the
Home for Little Boys, Clapham Park, which is referred to in detail below, there is no outstanding
feature to record. Stringent measures are invariably adopted at these institutions in the matter of
isolation or removal of the patient and the quarantine of contacts to limit the spread of disease.
Special care is also taken that children are not transferred to an industrial school from the Places
of Detention or other institutions whilst incubating or suffering from any disease of an infectious
nature. The following table shows the number of cases of the various infectious diseases which
have been reported from the institutions. It should be noted that one of the industrial schools, viz.,
Drury Lane, accommodates only day scholars. The remainder are residential institutions.
Infectious
disease in
Industrial
Schools and
Residential
Special
Schools.
23610
rp 2