[Report 1941] / Medical Officer of Health, Newport (Gwent) County Borough.

  • Newport (Wales). County Council.
Date:
1941
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1941] / Medical Officer of Health, Newport (Gwent) County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/100 (page 26)
    FurlJier measures are taken to prevent the spread of Diseases in Schools such as (1) Routine S-wabbing of scliool contacts with cases notified as Diphtheria and of the whole class when more than one case occurs, (2) the disinfection of school premises when necessary, (3) Immunisation of children against Diphtheria. . . • The extent to which the various schools were affected by minor infectious diseases is set out in Table Chicken Pox. During the year 286 cases came to the knowledge of the Depart- ment, compared with 533 in 1940, 588 in 1939. 233 of the cases were among school children, and 52 among children under school age. The schools affected will be seen in Table 11. The rules for exclusion from school laid down by the Ministry of Health and the Board of Education in their joint memorandum were applied in all cases. Mumps. ^ il,474 cases were reported during the year — by far the highest number ever recorded. The figures for 1940 were 146 and for 1939, 16. 688 of the cases occurred in the Infants’ Departments of the Schools. The epidemic started in the fourth quarter of 1940 and did not subside until the third quarter of 1941. Scabies. In common with the r.est of the country this disease increased in prevalence during 1941 when 429 cases came to the knowledge of the Department, compared with 156 cases in 1940. Facilities are provided at the School Clinic for the treatment of school children and over 400 cases w'ere dealt with there during the year. But all notified cases were visited at their homes by a Health Visitor to advise the parents or guardians; they were followed up until cured. For cases that are persistently neglected in their owm homes, whether adults or children, facilities are available for their treatment at Wooloston House Hospital; but so far the use of the powers to forceably remove any such case for treatment contained in the Scabies Order, 1941, has not been necessary. INFECTIOUS DISEASES NOTIFICATIONS. The diseases now notifiable are Small Pox, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria and Membranous Croup, Typhus, Typhoid or Enteric and Para-Typhoid Fever, Continued Fever, Cholera, Yellow Fever, Relaps- ing Fever, Plague, Puerperal Pyrexia, Erysipelas, Pneumonia (Acute Primary and Influenzal), Cerebro-Spinal Fever, Acute Polio-Encephalitis, Encephalitis Lethargica, Dysentery, Tuberculosis, Ophthalmia Neona- torum, Malaria, Measles and Whooping Cough. The number of notifications received from Doctors during 1941 w'as 1,486, compared with 2,093 in 1940, 1,053 in 1939, 1,802 in 1938, and 1,024 in 1937. Visits and Disinfection. 5,585 visits and re-visits in connection with the supervision of Infectious Diseases were made by the Staff. 426 houses (1,667 rooms)