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16
Instructions in the Care and Treatment of Measles.
1. Measles is a Fever, and should be treated as such.
In view of the high mortality from the disease, parents are
advised in every instance to seek medical advice. From the
Registrar General's death returns of the Metropolitan Boroughs
for the week ending 12 May, 1906, the Deaths from Measles
numbered 75, and from Scarlet Fever, Fnteric Fever, Diphtheria,
Whooping Cough and Diarrhoea, only 68. The total
death toll from Measles in the Metropolis is heavier than that
caused by the aggregate of all the other compulsory notifiable
diseases.
2. It is very highly infectious, especially in the early
stage for several days before the rash appears. The early
signs of the disease are coughing, sneezing, and redness of
the eyes, with some degree of illness.
3. A child at school with such marks of illness should
at once be sent home, and the teachers, particularly in the
Infant Department, should be on the lookout for the first
signs of illness, if Measles has made its appearance in the
School or neighbourhood. The occurrence in a school of any
Catarrhal illness in a child, if Measles has made its appearance
in the School, should be considered sufficient reason for
sending the child home till the nature of the illness has become
plain.
4. Anyone attacked by Measles should, if possible, be
placed in a separats room upstaire with a good fire burning
in the room and the window opened sufficiently to admit
fresh air without allowing the room to get cold. The bed
should be placed in that part of the room not lying between
the window and the fire, in which there is least draught. In
the summer the fire should not be large, but should not be
absent. Where a separate room cannot be provided the
same procedure should be carried out.
5. The children at home not attacked and not having
had the disease must not go to School or other place of meeting
for a month after the appearance of the eruption in the
first child, and if subsequent cases occur, not until a month
after the appearance of the eruption in the last child attacked.
6. Where a case of Measles has occured in a house, a
careful outlook should be kept on the other children, so that