On the liability to infection during school-life and its relationship to sanatorium accommodation in schools : a thesis for the degree of M.D. in the University of Cambridge / by Charles Edward Shelly.

  • Shelly, Charles Edward, 1854-
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the liability to infection during school-life and its relationship to sanatorium accommodation in schools : a thesis for the degree of M.D. in the University of Cambridge / by Charles Edward Shelly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Table I. a. statistics for .... -f ^'''Jlt? J^™' ^'S''*^ Twenty-four years, lui . . . . 1863-79. 1879-87. 1.S03-S7. Boys entered 1639 959 • 2598 E/'?iprotected from— Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Variola 1624 or 99-08 ... 955 or 99-5 . . . 2579 or 99*2 Scarlatina .... 1183 or 72-18 . . .718 or 74-86 . . . 1901 or 73-57 Kubeola .... 382 or 23-3 . . .283 or 29-5 . . . 665 or 25-79 Pertussis .... 448 or 27-3 . . . 285 or 29-7 . . . 733 or 28-02 Dividing the twenty-four years into three periods of eight years each, but little difference was observable between the retui'ns for the first and second of these epochs; and the- com- bined returns for the first sixteen years, 1863 to 1879, are grouped together in column 1 of Table I. A. In several points this column contrasts with that for the last period of eight years, 1879—1887, column 2 in Table I. a. Thus, in the first place, it will be noticed that the percentage of M?iprotected is decidedly increased in the latter period. Had this been the ease with such a disease as measles only, one would have been inclined to explain it on the supposition of a more general and more careful differentiation between it and rotheln, coincident with that wider appreciation of the characters distinguishing them which has spread amongst the public during recent years. But this increase of the unprotected obtains in the case of each and all of the maladies enumerated : and one is impelled to the con- clusion that it is really due to an increasing education of the public in general hygiene; so that—owing to more careful pro- phylaxis, and to the earlier recognition of, as well as to the prompter and more efficient isolation of, fii'st cases —a larger (and an increasing) proportion of children escape in infancy and early childhood ; i.e., in the pre-school age fewer contract these maladies than was formerly the case ; and a greater number, therefore, enter school 2i?iprotected. This is a result highly en- couraging to the medical officer of health, and to the family doctor; but it does not lessen the responsibilities or the anxieties of the medical officers of schools ; and it cannot be regarded as tending to reduce the minimum of sanatorium accommodation required in a school. I may add that this progressive increase in the proportion of the unprotected at the beginning of school