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128
Hospital, but that is now barely adequate to meet the
demands made, and the annual cost to the Council of that
addition, for repayment of loan only, is over £400 per
annum. So that, from a purely financial standpoint, the
matter is worth the attention of the Council; in addition fo
that there is the loss of education grant from direct nonattendance
of patients and contacts, and, what is far greater,
the absence of other children through anxiety of parents
to avoid any risk of infection. Most important of all, however,
is the prevention of disease and the consequent misery
and possible risk to life.
Always, in an outbreak of Scarlet Fever, there are so
many grades of the disease that it is quite easy for an attack
to be passed over as merely a sore throat, allowed to return
to school and then infect others. In several instances classrooms
were disinfected by a thorough spraying with Cyllin
solution, and the books, pencils, etc., destroyed where such
a proceeding was indicated. Of course, in many instances
there was a clear history of the disease being contracted from
an outside source and not from attendance at school. The
parent as a rule, naturally perhaps, concludes because a
child catches Scarlet Fever and is attending school that
therefore the school is the cause of all the trouble.