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59
"If the Sanitary Authority of the District in
"which the school is situated, or any two members
"thereof acting on the advice of the Medical
"Officer of Health, require either the closure of
"the school or the exclusion of certain children
"for a specified time, with a view to preventing
"the spread of disease or any danger to health
"likely to arise from the condition of the school,
"such requirement must at once be complied
"with, but after compliance appeal may be made
"to the Board if the requirement is considered
" unreasonable."
In order to insist upon disinfection of the class-room
advantage was taken of the powers contained in Section 60 of
the Public Health (London) Act. Notice was served on the
Head Teacher of the School, the class-room was closed for some
days, and the premises and contents thoroughly disinfected.
Your Committee drew the attention of the School Board
to the difficulties which had occurred, and a copy of a report
from their advisers was sent, in which they stated that the
extraordinary measures suggested by your Medical Officer in a
letter of the 25th September to the Board seemed unnecessary.
They further stated that the class-room was overhauled in the
earliest possible time by their officers and that the results
indicated no necessity for either closure or disinfection. This
seems extraordinary in the face of the fact that the Board's
officer discovered in the class-room pseudo-diphtheria bacillus
in four children and excluded them from school, and showed
clearly that unrecognised cases were in the school and that the
class-room itself had been thoroughly infected. The temporary
closure of the class-room and its thorough disinfection resulted
in no further cases occurring.
The question of school closure during an outbreak of
infectious disease is often difficult, and one in regard to which