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Unreliable as the information from the school teachers is, it is rendered
even of less value from the fact that the child has been absent from school for
a considerable time, when the inquiries by the Sanitary Officials are made.
In some cases we are able to persuade the parents that the disease may
have been Measles, and it is to the interest of the other children that the
premises should be disinfected. In such circumstances it would be useless to
attempt to insist upon the premises being disinfected, if the parents refuse to
have it done. If we took police court proceedings, we would not be able to
controvert the evidence of the parents that the child had not suffered from
Measles, and the Magistrate would dismiss the case.
If the teachers refused to accept any excuse as to the child's absence from
school, except a written one, it would be more difficult for the parents to afterwards
deny the existence of the disease.
During the School Holidays, we are without even this meagre information.
For the above reasons alone, the order of the London County Council is
in my opinion of no practical value, and taking the table on page 15 into consideration,
it must be admitted that it has as yet, shown no tendency to lessen
the incidence of the disease in the Borough.
It is not my intention at the present time, to discuss the advantages or
disadvantages which might accrue from the Order, even in the absence of the
conditions mentioned in the above paragraph.
It would, of course, be expensive to make Measles a notifiable disease, and
it is doubtful whether the expenditure would be justified if adopted. It is true
that it has been tried in many of the large provincial towns, but the conditions
are somewhat different. In all the places where the experiment has been
made, a certain number of patients at the onset of an epidemic, were removed
to the Fever Hospitals. During the height of the epidemics the hospital
accommodation was found to be inadequate.
The Metropolitan Asylums Board however do not admit patients to their
Fever Hospitals, if they are known to be suff< ring from Measles.
In considering the question of expense, the amount now paid to Medical
Men for notifying infectious diseases would be doubled. This would be a
small matter compared to the sum that would be necessary to provide
sufficient hospital accommodation. Even with a sufficient number of Fever
Hospitals, we could not expect to have the same good results with respect to