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52
in St. James Street Ward, 9 in High Street, 64 in Hoe Street, 55 in
Wood Street, 143 in Hale End, and 96 in Higham Hill Ward.
From the returns supplied by the Head Teachers in accordance with
the "Regulations as to Infectious Diseases in Schools," it appears that
during the year 533 school children suffered from Measles and 334 from
Whooping Cough.
From previous experience, about 40 per cent. only of sufferers are
known to the teachers, so we may assume that in 1920 about 1,300
children suffered from Measles as against 2,031 in 1919.
Every child known to be suffering from Measles was visited once or
oftener by the Health Visitors, and a leaflet of instructions as to isolation,
general treatment and nursing was left with those in charge.
All the deaths attributed to Measles were children under 5 years of
age, and 80 per cent. of the deaths from Whooping Cough were also in
children under 5 years of age.
By referring to the deaths on page 21, and the Measles and Whooping
Cough chart on page 53, it can be inferred that Measles is a very
dangerous infectious disease among the poor, but not so where proper
nursing and suitable treatment are carried out directly the child is
attacked.
The Health Visitors do a useful work in the poorer homes by
impressing on the mothers the necessity of safeguarding the very
young children from exposure to either disease, but the belief that
Measles and Whooping Cough are trivial ailments dies hard, and many
mothers still act on the principle: once either complaint is introduced
in the home it is just as well that all the children should suffer.
This view is entirely erroneous.
The incidence and fatality of these diseases rapidly vanish with age,
and no child under five should be exposed to either infection.
The notification of Measles, by enabling the Health Visitors to visit
and advise the poorest and less educated persons on this point, was a
useful Public Health measure and should have been continued.
All the known sufferers from Whooping Cough were also visited, and
the parents appropriately advised by the School Nurses.
The deaths from both diseases since 1889 are given on the Chart
following:—