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15
" In accordance with the desire of the Board, I beg to report to
to you on the above subject.
" At a meeting of the Vestry of St. George-the-Martyr, Southwark,
on June 18th, 1895, Dr. Waldo, the Medical Officer of Health,
reported that in his opinion measles should be notified and removable
to a hospital.
" I will first compare the deaths in London from measles with those
from scarlet fever, for which some preventive measures have for some
years past been taken.
" Last year there were as many as 3,292 deaths from measles in
London, whereas from scarlet fever there were only 964 deaths.
" While the deaths from scarlet fever have diminished to less than
one-fifth of what they were, on the average, in the ten years 1861-70,
viz., from 11.4 per 10,000 inhabitants of London to only 2 2, those from
measles are gradually increasing, and last year were as many as 7.4
per 10,000 Or to put it in other words, while the number of deaths
from measles is increasing, for every 100 deaths from scarlet fever in
the years 1861-70, there are now less than 20; or for every death
from scarlet fever now there used to be, about 30 years ago, more than
5 deaths ; so that last year there was a saving of about 4,000 lives, and
the prevention of about 8,000 cases of scarlet fever in London alone.
This will, perhaps, help you to realise the enormous amount of illness
with its attendant expense, trouble, inconvenience and danger to life
and well-being that has been saved by the preventive measures—becoming
gradually more and more perfect—that have been taken in
the case of scarlet fever.
" There were more deaths in London last year from measles than
from any other infectious disease, being 23 per cent, higher than those
from diphtheria, which was the next highest.
" Amongst children the mortality from measles is greater than that
from all the notifiable diseases put together.
" If measles were notified, all children from infected houses could
be excluded from school, and thus epidemics could be prevented from
occurring in schools, and at the same time the necessity for interfering
with the work of schools would be reduced to a minimum.