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58
was evidence that if the class-rooms had been closed at an
earlier date much good might have resulted and the outbreak
have been lessened.
It has been the custom to communicate the existence of
infectious disease in any particular school or part of a school to
the School Board Authorities, with a view of obtaining the
disinfection of infected class-rooms, and where necessary, the
closing of the school or part of it. This action was taken on the
recrudescence of diphtheria, at the Lewisham Bridge Board
School. On the 25th September, written notification was
sent to the Medical Adviser of the London School Board of the
cases which had occurred since the termination of the holidays.
Attention was also called to the cases which occurred prior to
the holidays, and I suggested that the recrudescence was possibly
due to some unrecognised case, or that the class-room itself was
infected. I also advised that the class-room "D" in which
cases had appeared, should be closed for a period of 14 days and
thorough disinfection carried out by the local authority.
The School Board authorities did not consider such steps
necessary, and I was informed on the 29th September, that an
examination of the children in the Infants' Department had been
made by one of the Board's Officers, and that he had excluded
from the class-room four children whom he had found in a
suspicious condition, owing to the existence in them of pseudodiphtheria,
which is looked upon (for the purposes of exclusion) as
diphtheria. This examination alone, to my mind, showed the
necessity of closing and disinfecting the class-room referred to.
I did not think for a moment that the course suggested,
i.e., closing and disinfection, could possibly be objected to, otherwise
direct action would have been taken in accordance with the
provisions of the Code of Regulations for Public Elementary
Schools, issued by the Board of Education, Section 88 of which
provides as follows:—