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34
was an epidemic of Measles In Brighton, and in August and September
of the same year every house was visited in which, during the previous
seven months cases of Measles had occurred. No disinfection had
been carried out in any of these houses. Six hundred and twenty-five
houses had been invaded by Measles; in 534 of these houses the occupants
were the same as on the first visit, and no further children had
been attacked by Measles. The immunity of the 169 children in these
houses, who had not previously acquired Measles, had continued. Of
the remaining houses. 23 on investigation were found to be empty,
and in 66 of these new families were living or new babies had been
born. Eighty-six new children had come into these presumably infected
houses, and 27 of them were unprotected and possibly exposed
to infection. The duration of their exposure in the presumably infected
houses varies from 17 days to 4b months. None of them
acquired Measles, and Dr. Newsholme concludes that if there had
been a few instances of Measles among the number he should have
refrained from pressing a case based on scanty data, even though
the majority of the children had escaped infection. But in view of
the fact that the entire experience points in one direction, it is
justifiable to infer provisionally that the infection of Measles is shortlived
and that domestic cleansing suffices for disinfection. This conclusion
is obviously subject to revision if a series of unfallacious positive
facts are forthcoming at any future time in contradiction to the
negative facts here adduced.
Apart from the expense which disinfection would involve, there
are other reasons against adopting it as a general practice. It has
been positively stated that Measles is infectious before the disease
is recognised, and the children are not kept to one room. Besides,
even when recognised, little attempt is made at isolation, and the
children are allowed to roam about the house, possibly, before they
are free from infection. It would obviously be useless to disinfect
the bedroom alone, when other rooms had been exposed to infection.
An endeavour was made to impress upon the parents the necessity
of keeping the child apart from the other children in a suitable
rcom during the infectious period. In some instances the instructions
were not regarded owing to inadequate accommodation in invaded
houses. In some districts the difficulty has been met by the