View report page

28
WHOOPING COUGH NOTIFICATION.
I think I need not dwell at any length upon this subject, as
the remarks I have made with regard to Measles apply also to
Whooping Cough, only to a much greater extent. I consider it
is a disease with which it is impossible to adequately deal with
under the Notification Act for the following reasons:—
(1) A large number are never reported.
(2) The disease at the onset often starts as an ordinary
cold, the characteristic cough often does not shew
itself for some time, and during all this period the
case is highly infectious and the poison rapidly taken
by others.
(3) The mothers of the poor invariably treat this disease
themselves, and continue to send their children in the
streets and to school all the time.
(4) Isolation is impossible as many cases last three
months, and fresh air is the one thing above all that
does most good during convalescence, and the parents
would not consent to keep their children shut up in a
stuffy room for a long period. In fact this disease is
impossible to cope with in any way by isolation at
home, and hospital treatment is out of the question in
this district.
(5) Disinfection is very hard to enforce, as all the discharges
being so infectious it is hard to know where
to begin and where to end.
(6) The expense of notification is very great and has not
in any way repaid the amount spent on it.
To sum up I am of opinion that Measles and Whooping
Cough are diseases which cannot be efficiently treated in this
district by the aid of notification to in any way repay the