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Ophthalmia neonatorum is one of the most important causes of blindness.
Fortunately, however, no case coming to our knowledge last year in the Borough
suffered permanent injury in this way.
Whooping Cough.
Visits were paid to 40 persons suffering from whooping cough. Of these,
31 were notified by doctors; in 5 others the information was derived from the
schools; 1 from health visitors; 8 from the L.C.C.
Age.
Five were children under 1 year, 24 were aged 1 to 5, and 11, 5 to 16 years.
Contacts*
(40 enquiries.)
Twelve had no contacts; 28 had contacts. The number of contacts was
94, of whom 47 were susceptible, 47 already having suffered from an attack.
No. of cases
and
8 7 5 3 0 1 1 2 1 1
No. of contacts
1 2 3 45 6 7817
No. of cases
and
16 2 3 1 1
No. of susceptible contacts
1 2 3 4 14
Spread of Infection in Family.
The 40 cases occurred in 33 families. In 27 families 1 case occurred; in
5 families 2 cases occurred, and in 1 family 3 cases occurred.
Removal.
Twelve children were removed to hospital, approximately 30 per cent. All
these were admitted to hospitals of the L.C.C.
Spread of Infection in Whooping Cough.
There is much difficulty in getting parents to realise that the child of preschool
age must be sheltered from the risk of infection as much as the child
attending school. Parents realise that the school child is a potential focus of
infection for many other children, and should be guarded from infection; they fail
to realise that the pre-school child, although less likely to spread the disease, is
less able to resist the dangers of an attack; many parents state candidly that they
send children with whooping cough into the squares and streets during school
hours when " there are no other children about." The continued advice
to parents to look upon a child suffering from whooping cough as a
serious menace to others has drawn their attention to the fact that this
disease is one which should be viewed with more concern than it is at present.
Parents frequently express the view that there is need to educate public opinion
in the dangers of whooping cough and the way in which it is caught.
*This refers to children of and below school age—the L.C.C. definition being used. A
susceptible contact is one who has not already had the disease.