Report on the public health of 1902.

  • Finsbury (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Report on the public health of 1902. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    87/266 (page 71)
    71 Section 65 provides for a penalty on persons ceasing to occupy premises without disinfection or notice to owner or making false answer. Section 68 prohibits the exposure of infected persons and tilings. Section 69 prohibits infected persons from carrying on any occupation likely to spread the disease. Section 70 prohibits the conveyance of infected persons by public conveyances. Section 72 prohibits the retention of the body of a person who has died of any dangerous infectious disease. Section 73 provides for the body of a person who has died in hospital of any dangerous infectious disease being removed only for burial. Section 74 provides for the disinfection of a public conveyance which has been used for conveying the body of a person who has died of an infectious disease. In reply to this enquiry, 10 of the Metropolitan Boroughs expressed approval of placing Measles in the schedule of dangerous infectious diseases, and the London County Council adopted this arrangement on January 21st, 1903. The new order is to come into force on or about April 1st, 1903. This arrangement will give the Borough Council the powers set forth above in cases of measles. There are two further methods which might be adopted in the Borough of Finsbury, viz:—First: To extend to all denomin ational and private schools, as far as possible, the plan already in vogue, by which Board School teachers inform the Medical Officer of Health of any cases of Measles occurring among the children in their schools. There can be no doubt that Measles is spread directly by the agency of schools. From these data we should know the time when it would be wise or necessary to exclude certain children from school, to visit absentees, to deal with infected houses, or to close schools, especially Infants' Departments. This method has been put into practice, with considerable success, by a large number of Sanitary Authorities. The idea is prevalent in some quarters that the closure of schools is of little avail in the prevention of epidemics, because if children are not in schools they are playing about together in