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31
Saturday, November 21st, one case was notified, and
Monday, November 23rd, five cases were notified. Upon visiting
the homes of these, four out of the six were found to be
scholars of the Wesleyan Schools.
On Tuesday morning, November 24th, the Medical Officer,
in the course of inspecting the children, discovered in a class
room one child commencing the "peeling" stage of the disease.
Another child was also suspected, in the main building,
owing to the roughness of his hands. (Upon further examination
at home, at a later period, the Medical Officer concluded this
was not a case of scarlet fever. There was no evidence of
peeling nor history of an attack. The roughness of the hands
was due to the boy having soaked them in a strong solution of
Jeyes fluid).
As a brother of the undoubted case was attending the school
in another class room the Medical Officer, with the consent of
two members of the Health Committee, advised that the schools
should be closed for 12 days and this advice was immediately
acted upon.
The incubation period of scarlet fever is usually from three
to five days, rarely it may be as long as eight days, therefore,
any child who had been infected at school would have developed
the disease some days before the schools re-opened.
In addition to disinfection and cleansing on different
occasions previous to November 24th, the schools and church
were thoroughly cleansed immediately after that date, and all
books, pencils, pens, plasticine and other articles liable to
convey infection were destroyed. As soon as possible after the
closing of the school the home of every scholar was visited and
ihe parents advised to call in a doctor if any sign of illness
appeared.