London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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London County Council 1946

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]

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1946, with corresponding figures for the years 1938, 1944 and 1945 included for comparison:—

Age group1946194519441938
EntrantsBoys0.740.741.051.58
Girls1.851.722.242.31
7 years oldBoys0.751.201.171.88
Girls2.082.302.953.17
11 years oldBoys0.510.520.641.74
Girls2.461.993 053.55
LeaversBoys0.440.550.531.43
Girls2.151.952.702.85

This table shows an improvement in the verminous conditions as found by the
school doctors in every category during 1946, compared with 1938, but the parents
are warned beforehand of the doctors' examinations and so the children are often
specially cleaned.
The most reliable index of the incidence of verminous conditions is found at the
school nurses' personal hygiene inspections, when the parents are not previously
warned.
During 1946, the school nurses made 1,532,848 examinations, and the number
of cases in which children were noted as verminous was 87,668, giving an all-round
incidence of 5.72 per cent., the corresponding percentage for 1938 being 7.3.

The subdivision between boys, girls and infants is as follows:—

Total no. examinedNo. found verminousPercentage
Boys507,11414,2552.8
Girls496,24542,6398.6
Infants529,48930,7745.8
Total1,532,84887,6685.72

Scabies
Scabies is a notifiable disease in London and all cases are notified to the local
borough medical officer of health.
The rising incidence of scabies in school children had given cause for concern
for some years before the war: in 1936 the figure was 8,389, in 1937 it was 10,962
and in 1938 it had risen to 14,292. The incidence soared during the early years of the
war, and reached the peak of 23,119 cases in 1942, when the number of school children
in London was less than half that in 1938.
In 1945, the number of children treated for scabies was 14,196, while in 1946
the number treated was 12,894, with a third greater school population in 1946 than
that in 1945.
Choice of
employment

The following table summarises the contra-indications (excluding special schools):—

Contra-indication for jobs involving or needingBoysGirls
NumberPercentage of inspected childrenNumberPercentage of inspected children
Heavy manual work4844.333923.75
Sedentary confined work990.89910.87
Exposure to bad weather1941.732071.98
Dusty atmosphere1461.311191.14
Climbing840.75640.61
Proximity to moving machinery540.48380.36
Prolonged standing3232.894113.93
Eye strain9608.581,0349.89
Acute distant vision8507.609078.67
Acute hearing890.80520.50
Handling of confectionery770.691000.96
Food preparation780.70980.94
No. of children with contra.indications1,98817.782,00019.13