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The Schools are for the most part modern, substantially built
buildings, adequately supplied with water and provided with sufficient
surrounding air space, while their general cleanliness appears to be
well looked after.
With a view to checking the spread of epidemic disease it has
been the practice for many years past for the Medical Officer of Health
on receiving information of the occurrence of infectious disease in the
family of a scholar to send a red-coloured notice to the Head Teacher
of the School (Day School and Sunday School) recommending the
exclusion of children coming from the infected home, subsequently
followed by a white notice freeing the family from quarantine on the
completion of the necessary isolation and the official disinfection of
the premises. Each School is provided with a supply of disinfectants
for general or special use.
The particular action taken with regard to Schools during the
year will be found under the heading "Chief Zymotic Diseases."
Methods of Dealing with Infectious Disease.—Prior
to the Infectious Disease Notification Act, 1899, the notification of
these diseases in West Ham had been compulsory for 11 years, under
special powers obtained by the West Ham Corporation Act, 1888,
which provided for the notification of all the diseases specified in the
general Act, with the exception of Erysipelas and Membranous Croup.
The Hospital accommodation of the Borough for the isolation of
infectious disease consists of—
(1) The Plaistow Fever Hospital (opened as to two wards in
1896 and as to the completed Hospital in 1901) now
contains 210 beds, allocated to the following purposes: