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scarlet fever or diphtheria should be kept from attending
school for at least a fortnight, and it is wiser to keep
them as much as possible apart from other children of
the family during this period. There is now co-operation
in work between Medical Officers of Health and School
Medical Officers and this may do much to lessen the
spread of infectious diseases in Council Schools.
PUERPERAL FEVER.
No case of disease has been notified in this district
since 1901. This is very fortunate, because there is reason
for believing that a good many cases of midwifery
have been attended by ignorant and incapable persons
with no qualifications, either legal or otherwise, for the
office. On the 1st of April, 1910, Section 1, Sub-section
(2) of the Midwives' Act comes into operation, which
makes it illegal for any woman habitually and for gain
to attend women in child-birth otherwise than under the
direction of a qualified medical practitioner, unless she
is certified under the Act, and I hope the provisions of
the Act will be strictly enforced in this district by the
responsible authority.
ERYSIPELAS.
Ten cases of erysipelas were notified. They were
sporadic in origin and of a mild type generally. Inspection
and enquiries were made in each case, but it is difficult
to see what real good is achieved by including this
disease amongst the notifiable infectious diseases. In
my opinion it would be much more advantageous to
include measles or whooping cough in place of this in
the list of compulsory notifiable diseases.
MEASLES.
I have already referred at some length to this disease
in a previous paragraph.
WHOOPING COUGH.
This disease was again prevalent early in the year,
and caused five deaths. Not being a notifiable disease
the Sanitary Authority has not many facilities for dealing
effectively with this most serious disease, which
causes untold suffering to children and often leads to
permanent impairment of health. Three of the fatal
cases were in children of less than 18 months.