View report page

Pediculosis
Lice are the natural vectors of typhus, trench and relapsing
fevers although in temperate climates infection seems generally
to be limited to skin organisms giving rise to impetigo, furunculosis
and eczema introduced into the tissues by fingernails in the
act of scratching.
The resurgence of verminous conditions noted during 1969
and which continued throughout 1970, persisted during the
current year. Indeed, the present total of 1,276 treatments is
40.4% greater than last year and no less than 264% higher than
for 1968.
Evidence, certainly in the London area, indicated that this
exacerbation was due to the evolvement in the head louse
(pediculus humanus capitis) of a strain resistant to the organochlorine
insecticides such as DDT and gamma BHC used for
present-day treatment.
A preparation containing malathion has since been developed
and is now being introduced into our methods of treatment and
it is anticipated that this fresh advance in verminous conditions
in the community will be contained.
In the course of investigations into this comparatively recent
rise in resistance it has been shown that the newer chemicals are
far less toxic to humans than the residual DDT and BHC
preparations.
Scabies
With regard to scabies, there was evidence during the current
year of a return to a more normal situation for treatments fell
by 25.8% compared with those of the previous year. This present
total of 521 is still 123 in excess of the 1968 figure.
A number of cases of scabies are likely to be complicated by
impetigo, a contagious complaint arising from the infection of