Measles

During the year 1910 the death rates from this disease in the States of Rhode Island and North Carolina were 32.6 and 27.1 per 100,000 inhabitants.

In the same year the death rate per 100,000 from measles in Pittsburgh, Pa., was 33.1; Providence, R. I., 31.9; Kansas City, Mo., 28.4; Lowell, Mass., 28.1; Albany, N. Y., 23.9; Columbus, Ohio, 23.6; Buffalo, N. Y., 22.1; and Richmond, Va., 21.1.

The death rate among those attacked varies from 1/2 to 35 per cent. If it is estimated that the death rate is 1 per cent, and the number of deaths from it in the United States during the year 1910 was 11,000, then it would follow that during that year at least 1,100,000 children suffered from this disease. When it is considered that perhaps 30 per cent of these children were of school age, and that the disease occurs most often during the months of school attendance, then it will be seen that 330,000 children were kept from school from six weeks to two months on account of measles. Leaving out of consideration the death and suffering which was produced in this way, this is a serious economic loss.

Measles is a