View report page

140
WHOOPING COUGH.
As a rule, when an epidemic of Measles occurs in a
district, it is followed or accompanied by one of Whooping
Cough. For 1911, however, there were only 137 cases of
this disease reported, compared with 273 in 1910. What
cases there were chiefly affected the schools which were
infected with Measles. At Goodmayes, however, there were
154 cases of Measles, but not a single case of Whooping
Cough reported. There were 7 deaths, but they were all in
children under 5 years. Here too, however, the infection
may be brought home by an older child with a fatal result
for the younger. The dependence of the general health and
death-rate of the district on the combined work of the Council
as education and health authority is well exemplified in these
diseases. Thus the wisdom of the central authority in advocating
the union of the public health and education medical
work in one department can be easily justified by considering
the waste of time and opportunity when the
machinery is duplicated, to take only this class of disease.
Any step taken with regard to a school child cannot stay
there if the case is infectious and there are other children in
the same house.