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(27)
CLEANSING STATION.

It is a somewhat perturbing fact that there has been a steady,
if only slight, increase in each category every year. Men are
more prone to be infested by vermin than are women, and this
I have always associated with the fact that in our borough at any
rate, men make much more use of the common lodging houses than
do women. For this reason we endeavour to make the existence
of the station known in the common lodging houses, and keep the
latter under careful observation. On the other hand women
appear to suffer from scabies more frequently than men, and we
do not get many cases of scabies from the common lodging houses.
It almost appears as if the reservoir of scabies was among the
children, and that mothers are more often infected than fathers.
Each adult patient appears to be cleared of the trouble after an
average of two treatments, while in the case of children the average
number of treatments per child is about four. This difference
may be due to the fact that children scratch themselves more
unrestrainedly than adults and so the infection extends more
widely and even more deeply than in the case of adults ; staphylococcal
infection of the skin as a result of scratching is also more
frequent in children. An alternative explanation may, however,