View report page

217
REPORT ON THE WORK OF
THE EAR, NOSE & THROAT
CLINIC.
To the School Medical Officer, May, 1939.
Barking Borough Council.
Dear Sir,
The opening of an Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic in
September of the year under review for the Borough
of Barking has made provision for certain treatments
which hitherto were somewhat difficult to obtain
locally, such as zinc ionisation for discharging ears and
diastolisation for certain nasal conditions.
It was noted, shortly after the time of the Political
Crisis in September, 1938, that there was an increase
amounting almost to an epidemic in the number of
cases of Acute Suppurative Otitis Media with, in several
cases, Mastoiditis. This effect was felt at the newly
established Clinic, and may be ascribed to different
factors. Some patients reported that they had caught
a chill waiting in queues for Gas Mask fittings. In other
cases it seemed attributable to a slight lowering of the
general standard of health and resistance to infection
following upset of normal routine, and mental upset.
Further, I have noted, as compared with comparable
Clinics, a marked absence of cases of Hayfever and
Asthma. Whether these cases are not yet reaching me,
whether provision for them is supplied elsewhere, or
whether such cases are numerically small in Barking—
and these diseases notoriously vary from one district
to another—are points to be elucidated by further
enquiry and observation.