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140
Infectious Disease.
The recommendations of the " Memorandum on
Closure and Exclusion from School " are followed in the
precautions taken to prevent the spread of infectious
disease. Teachers are advised, in order to prevent the
entry of an epidemic into schools, that it is better to
exclude provisionally one or two children than to permit
them to remain at school and to discover a week later
that an epidemic is in progress.
When a child is excluded from school owing to an
infectious disease, such as measles, whooping cough,
mumps, chicken pox, etc., parents are instructed to isolate
the infected child at home and to see that the child is
kept away from play centres, Sunday schools, and all
places where children gather together, until entirely free
of infection. It has not infrequently happened, however,
that children who have heen excluded from school
attendance have been allowed by their parents to travel
in buses, trams, etc., and to attend other places where
they have spread infection. As these infectious diseaseare
not notifiable under the Public Health Act in this
area, difficulty of control arises unless the Department
has the full co-operation of the parents. A pamphlet is
being printed for circulation to parents seeking their
co-operation in this aspect of prevention of the spread of
infectious disease.
The Committee's regulations regarding the control of
infectious disease in elementary schools have been
amended regarding german measles, whereby children
suffering from this disease must he excluded for ten
days from the onset of rash, and all children in the same
house who have not had the disease are excluded from
school for fourteen days from the date of commenecement
of the last case in the house. The regulations have now
heen further amended in respect of chicken pox and
mumps; children who are contacts in the same house and
have not previously had these diseases will continue to
attend school for a period of fourteen days from the date
of commencement of the first case and will then be ex
eluded for a period of seven days,