[Report 1942] / School Medical Officer of Health, St Helens.

  • St. Helens (Merseyside, England). Council.
Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1942] / School Medical Officer of Health, St Helens. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/34 (page 5)
    The importance of a carefully balanced diet, where the range of vitamin containing foodstuffs may be seasonably restricted, is one of paramount necessity to growing children, and during the war years can only be assured for a considerable number of the school population by the extension of communal feeding. The position in St. Helens in relation to the provision of meals and milk is outlined in a later section of the report. In my Annual Report for last year a review was given on the investigation of infestation in the schools and a scheme of intensified supervision in schools was outlined. The main provisions of that scheme were put into operation during 1942. This entailed an increase of approximately 5,000 extra examinations of children for cleanliness by nurses in the schools. _ ** The percentage of children found to be actually verminous or showing evidence of infestation was 5.25, the corresponding figure for 1941 being 4.65. There was therefore a tendency during 1942 towards an increase in number of children infested by vermin. Unfortunately, parental co-operation was sadly lacking in many cases, but very frequently this was due to the absence of mothers from the home whilst engaged on “ shift ” work in industrial undertakings. Following the passing of the Scabies Order, 1941, exemplary action was deemed necessary on several occasions and under its provisions cleansing was carried out in 7 cases. The percentage of children found at routine inspections with defective clothing was 1.37 in 1942 as compared with 2.50 in 1941 ; whilst the percentage with defective footwear was 0.61 compared with 1.55 in the preceding year. The number of cases of scabies discovered at Inspection Clinics and during medical inspection in schools again showed an increase on previous years. 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 No. of cases of scabies 37 59 147 515 544 Many of these cases were disclosed during special inspections and did not result from routine medical inspection of the three age groups. The value and necessity of these special examinations during these abnormal times could not be more practically demonstrated. The number of cases discovered to be suffering from Scabies of the abdominal wall or chest wall or buttocks, without showing demonstrable lesions on the uncovered hands or legs, was very large. These “ hidden ” cases constitute a reservoir of infection which may nullify all efforts at control of the spread of the infestation amongst the population, if their existence is not disclosed and steps taken to clear them up. Facilities for treatment were afforded at the Cleansing Centre at Peasley Cross Isolation Hospital and the majority of cases received treatment at that Centre. All school cases were followed up and kept under the closest supervision until treatment was completed. Application of the provisions of the Scabies Order was found necessary in 2 cases and 4 children were compulsorily treated. Re-examinations : The following table gives the number of re-examinations carried out by Medical Officers during the year, and the results found at these re-examinations. Number of children re-examined Total re-examinations. Number found remedied Number found improved Number found stationary Number found retrograde 5,915 9,240 1,500 (16.23% 5,940 (64.29%) 1,716 (18.57%) 84 (0.91%)