[Report 1955] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.

  • Cumberland (England). County Council.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/44 (page 7)
    were brought from the outlying schools to a central school or clinic, transport being arranged by the Director of Education. All testing and vaccination was carried out by the School Medical staff and the chest physicians gave assistance in cases of doubt or difficulty. The result of the initial intracutaneous 1/1000 Mantroux test (positive or negative) was ‘read’ after three days and those children found to be ‘negative’ were given B.C.G. Some eight weeks after vaccination a post-B.C.G. Mantoux test, again 10 l.U. was carried out and ‘read’ three days later. It was found that at least 98% of the children showed tuberculin conversion and it should soon be possible, without risk, to discontinue this test and to postpone the post vaccination test until the following year when it can be carried out at the same time as the pre-vaccination test for the next year age group. Each child’s family doctor was informed of the result of the Mantoux test and notified of B.C.G. vaccination where this was carried out. Explanatory letters were sent to the parents of 2,802 children and the acceptance rate was 80% which, bearing in mind that some of the non-acceptors would have had B.C.G. under the contact scheme, may be considered quite a satis- factory response. Tests were actually completed on 2,190 children which represents 78.5% of the school child population in respect of whom the offer was made. Of these 667 (30%) gave a ‘positive’ reaction showing that they had at some time been exposed to tuberculous infection. 1,523 (60%) were ‘negative’ and 1,510 of these were given B.C.G. vaccination. The undoubted success of this scheme offers a good example of co-operation between the school health service, the teaching profession, parents, general medical practitioners, the chest physicians—truly a ‘combined operation’—and augurs well for the future. The following table sets out the position as regards exposure to tuberculous infection in 13-year-old children, as indicated by positive tuberculin tests, in different parts of Cumberland and allows comparison with the situation affecting the school entrant (5/6 year old) group of whom 3,003 were given the same test in certain selected areas of the county in the autumn of 1954.