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137
Skin Diseases.- The treatment of skin diseases is still one
which ranks very highly in economic worth so far as the efficiency
of your school service is concerned, because it is minor ailments of
this nature which causes an undue loss of time by exclusion from
school.
These cases are treated at your Minor Ailment Clinic, and
cases of ringworm of the scalp are treated away from your Minor
Ailment Clinic by Dr. A. Kennedy.
Although the cases of ringworm and of scabies have gone
down, the number of cases of impetigo dealt with has gone up
roughly from 300 to 400 cases. This increase in the number of cases
of impetigo is out of proportion to the increase in the school population.
After deducting a small number of cases of impetigo which to all
outward manifestations are impetigo but yet are probably very
different from ordinary impetigo and do not readily yield to treatment
I am of opinion that the vast majority representing the other
cases are in part at least due to home circumstances.
If only parents would bring their children to the Clinic right
away and would actually carry out the treatment offered, we
should see but a very small fraction of the number of serious cases
of impetigo with which your officers have to deal.
We intend using ultra violet light for the intractable cases
which form a small proportion of the whole, and for the rest we must
appeal to the parents of these children for more active co-operation.
It is to be regretted that we often find these cases returning day after
day with the dressings entirely removed, and oftentimes come to the
opinion that the dressings have only been on for a very small fraction
of the day.
External Eye Disease.— Although the number of minor eye
defects treated this year has gone up from 70 to 118, I am happy
to be able to say that the nature of these defects remains essentially