Measles, Whooping Cough Deadly in Babies, 1920

“What To Do For Measles and Whooping Cough,” from the November 4, 1920, issue of the Rockingham Post-Dispatch

The State Board of Health does not pretend to have found any specific for measles and whooping cough, which kills so many babies. It does know, as shown in the October Health Bulletin, how to make less likely deaths from these diseases.

The first thing is to avoid having these diseases. If measles is abroad in the community the order is to keep the child away from it. If the child gets it the thing to do is to send the victim to bed and keep him there. By careful treatment there will be no dangerous aftermath which really makes measles highly fatal.

Whooping cough does its worst in youth. The baby under one year stands one chance in eight of dying; from one to two, 1 in every 10; from two to three, the rate is 1 in every 30; from three to four it is 1 in every 50; and from four to five, 1 in 200 die.