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(b) Closure of schools or departments;
(c) Disinfection of schools.
(a) To-day, the first procedure is the one which is almost
entirely relied upon. As soon as a case of infectious disease is
notified a visit is paid to the house by one of the members of
the Sanitary Staff. Home contacts are excluded from school
until the end of the necessary quarantine period. Notices to
this effect are sent out from the Public Health Department to
the Head Teachers concerned and also to the School Attendance
Department.
New "Regulations as to Exclusion for Infectious Disease"
were issued to Head Teachers during the year. These regulations
embodied the recommendations outlined in the most recent
memorandum of the Ministry of Health and the Board of Education.
A detailed account of the early symptoms of the common
infectious disorders was also appended for the information of the
Head Teachers.
(b) School closure is rarely resorted to to-day and on no
occasion was it found necessary to recommend this during the
year under review.
When the attendance, however, falls below 60%, certificates
may be supplied by the School Medical Officer to that effect
as outlined in Paragraph 15 (ii) of Administrative Memorandum
No. 51, 1927. No certificate in accordance with this Rule was
required to be issued during 1933.
(c) During the summer holidays, the disinfection of each
school was carried out as in previous years. Disinfection of
classrooms was also carried out periodically as the necessity arose.
Much less reliance is now placed in the efficacy of this procedure
in the control of infectious diseases.
Valuable information is obtained from the weekly returns
of absences due to infectious diseases furnished by the Head
Teachers. The numbers of cases of non-notifiable infectious
diseases reported from the schools during 1933 were as follows:—
Measles 67
German Measles 8
Whooping Cough 58
Mumps 3
Chicken Pox 138
It will be seen that the schools were relatively free from
infectious diseases of an important nature.
Chicken pox was prevalent during the months of June, July,
October, and November. The schools chiefly affected were
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