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Schools and School Medical Inspection. 37
per cent. of deaths from Measles and its complications occur under
the age of 5 years. The attendance of an infant at a Day Nursery
amongst numbers of other young children coming daily to the
Nursery from separate homes, adds enormously to its opportunities
for infection, and this is particularly so in times of epidemics.
During the epidemic of Measles an outbreak occurred in March
amongst the infants and young children attending at the Day
Nursery. In all eighteen infants and young children who had
been in attendance at the Day Nursery were reported to have
contracted the disease. The Day Nursery was closed for a period
on my advice with a view to checking the spread of the disease.
In order to prevent as far as possible the spread of infectious
and contagious diseases amongst children at the Day Nursery I
instituted, in co-operation with the Committee of the Day Nursery,
arrangements whereby inquiry would be made as to the reason for
absence in the case of every child ceasing to attend at the Nursery
and, in the event of infectious or contagious diesease being alleged
or suspected as the cause of non-attendance, for this fact to be
reported to me so that, after investigation, infectious children could
be excluded from the Day Nursery and their contacts excluded from
school or vice versa. By co-operation in this way exclusion can be
effected at an earlier date in many cases of notifiable infectious
diseases without waiting for the receipt of the formal "notification,"
and in the case of non-notifiable infectious diseases exclusion can
be carried out on account of disease, the existence of which in the
family might otherwise never be ascertained.
5. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL MEDICAL
INSPECTION.
There are 14 Public Elementary Schools and 19 Private
Schools in the District. Both the Public Elementary and the
Private Schools have been inspected by the Sanitary Inspector and,
in addition, for the purpose of special investigations, by me
personally. The water supply, sanitary accommodation and general
sanitary conditions were, on the whole, very satisfactory. Several