London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Wimbledon 1902
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Wimbledon]
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13
In May the disease was prevalent in South Wimbledon (South
Park Ward), principally amongst the scholars of the Queen's
and Effra Road Schools and Trinity School. All the departments
of the Effra Road and Central Schools were closed for 2 weeks 10
prevent the spread of the disease.
The South Wimbledon epidemic, which resulted in 8 deaths,
fortunately occurred in the warm months of the year, otherwise the
number of deaths would probably have been very much greater. In
December, for instance, with only 12 cases, 3 ended fatally,
whereas in May, June and July, with 609 cases, there were only
4 deaths.
The following summary shows the schools principally affected, and the number of scholars notified as suffering from measles from each in June, July and August, in which months the greatest number occurred.
| Date | Effra h'oRli | Trinity | Queen's Road. | HayHon's Read. | Dundonald | Cnttenhain Park. | Private |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | 81 | ||||||
| July | ... | 8 | |||||
| August | ... | 1 | 1 | ... |
The difficulty of dealing with this disease was plainly illustrated
on several occasions. A school or district which apparently
enjoyed immunity from measles one week would have within the
following three weeks a large proportion of its children affected.
As the period for which the Local Government Board sanctioned
the inclusion of meales in the list of compulsory notifiable
infectious diseases for this district, under the Infectious Diseases
Notification Act, 1899, would expire on June 27th, 1903. the matter
was brought before the Sanitary Committee in order that it might
consider the advisability or otherwise of continuing the compulsory
notification of this disease.