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Very special attention is given to this serious ailment.
Every case is very carefully watched by the
Health Visitor until the condition clears up, and her
reports most thoroughly scrutinized, the object being
the prevention of any risk of blindness resulting. The
Health Visitors paid 111 visits to cases.
In addition to the foregoing formal notifications of
Ophthalmia Neonatorum, 42 reports were received from
Medical Officers of the London County Council concerning
new born babies suffering from inflammation of the
eyes. These cases were also visited by the Health
Visitors. The district nurses treated 30 cases of discharging
eyes in young infants, paying 530 visits for
the purpose.
STILLBIRTHS.
Inquiry was made into 56 stillbirths reported during
the year, and some information relating to 48 of
them was obtained. In ten cases the mother was
reported to have been engaged in industrial employment
during pregnancy. The health of the mothers was
reported on as follows:—Good 23; Fair 9; Bad 15; and
the following complications of pregnancy were noted:
Albuminuria 3; Rheumatism and Heart Disease 2;
Gastritis 2; Cough 2; Venereal Disease 1; Hernia 1;
Varicose Veins 1.
The period of gestation was normal in 24 cases, but
was only seven to eight months in ten cases and eight
to nine months in nine cases, while one case was given
as hyper-normal (42 weeks). Labour varied greatly
in duration, being less than six hours in ten cases, six to
twelve hours in eleven cases, twelve to eighteen hours in
six cases, eighteen to twenty-four hours in two cases,
twenty-four hours in two cases, and in 34, 36, and 48
hours there was one case each, while there were two
cases with a labour given as long as four days, and four
cases were simply marked as "long."