Effect of Ultra-violet Irradiation of Classrooms on Spread of Measles in Large Rural Central Schools Preliminary Report

Abstract

STUDIES made in the past nine years by William Firth Wells and Mildred Weeks Wells 14 in Philadelphia and its suburbs on the effect of ultraviolet irradiation of classrooms on the spread of measles, chickenpox, and mumps in school children, have suggested that such irradiation has reduced the spread of these diseases, particularly measles, in the classrooms studied. In an attempt to repeat their observations, similar experiments have been undertaken by the New York State Department of Health t in three rural centralized schools in upstate New York. Actual observations in these experiments did not begin until January, 1945, but the extensive measles epidemic which occurred in New York State in the winter of 1945-1946 makes this early preliminary epidemiological report possible. The decision to conduct the study in centralized rural schools was determined primarily by their having certain characteristics which constitute highly de-*Presented before the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association at the Seventyfourth Annual Meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, November 14, 1946. t This study has been made by a team of the department, with the various aspects represented as follows: epidemioloaical, Drs. Perkins and Bahlke; statistical, Hilda F. Silverman; engineering, C. R. Cox; and bacteriological, F. W. Gilcreas, assisted by Hazel V. Roberts.

Use of Ultraviolet Radiation in Microbiological Laboratories

“…Perkins et al (235) reported that UV radiation modified the spread of measles. Dahlk"esTal (16) observed differences in the rate of spread of chickenpox but co•Id not find that the radiation had any effect on the spread of mumps.…”

Air Sanitation (Progress in the Control of Air-Borne Infections)

“…The first 10 indicated that the velocity of spread of measles among pupils of irradiated classrooms was remarkably slowed down even though the total number of cases was not observed to be diminished. A subsequent report 11 from the same schools on the irradiation in chickenpox and mumps also suggested a slower velocity of spread.…”

Evaluation of a Methodology for Quantifying the Effect of Room Air Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation on Airborne Bacteria

“…Epidemiological studies have shown that UVGI can reduce transmission of airborne infectious diseases in hospitals (McLean 1961), military housing (Willmon et al 1948), and classrooms Perkins et al 1947;Wells and Holla 1950). However, irradiation of classrooms was found not to be suf cient to interrupt measles transmission if children also were exposed elsewhere in the community (Nardell 1995).…”