[Report 1896] / School Health Service, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

  • Newcastle upon Tyne (England). School Health Service.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1896] / School Health Service, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/16 (page 8)
    Extracts from paper on “ Twelve years’ experience of the Notification of Measlesby B. Sydney Marsden, M.B., Medical Officer of Health for Birkenhead. 189 f “ In early outbreaks, limited to small areas, notification is u most valuable for tbe following reasons :—It enables a Medical “ Officer, who acts promptly in the matter, by visiting the house “ affected, and warning the relatives of the dangers run by “ exposure of the patient, followed up by a prompt prosecution if <£ such exposure is found out, to isolate the case to some extent; and “ if no other good comes of it, as Dr. Bostock Hill has pointed out, “ exposure of the patient to chill is prevented in many cases, with ££ the result that the mortality is diminished. Further, by closing “ the schools in the affected district a very great deal may be done ££ to check tbe spread of tbe disease. I have, in my own experi¬ ence, limited the area of infection and stopped an epidemic in “one instance by such means as those mentioned above, and, in a ££ second instance, I believe I succeeded in limiting the number “ of cases to a certain degree. There are years, however, when the “ outbreak appears to be general in every part of a district, and <£ under those conditions I do not think that notification helps you “ to stop the spread of the epidemic to any large extent. ££ There are, however, other advantages of notification, for ££ example, where it is important that the house should be under ££ special surveillance, as where a case arises in a milk shop, ££ confectioner’s, or other food supply store of a similar description. cc ££ Our experience, therefore, of the notification of Measles is, that the advantages derived from such notification fully justify the continuance of it. and more than counterbalance the dis¬ advantages of cost and trouble involved by such a course.