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(j) Tuberculosis.
Apart from 4 cases of suspected tuberculosis of the lungs
and 2 of spinal tuberculosis referred for treatment, the great
majority of the cases traced were those of glandular tuberculosis.
61 cases (0.8 per cent.) were referred for treatment, and 43 (0.6
per cent.) to be kept under observation. These were all in the
first instance sent to the Tuberculosis Dispensary for special
examination.
(k) Deformities.
A remarkably large number of cases of spinal curvature were
found during routine medical inspection. 144 cases, or 2 per
cent. of the children seen were referred for treatment,
and 46 slighter cases (0.6 per cent.) to be kept under
observation. This prevalence has in some instances been
associated, in the opinion of the inspecting medical officers,
with the continued use of obsolete types of school desks
in individual schools. The Committee have had the question
under consideration, and provision has been made for the steady
replacement of these older desks by others of a modern type.
The attendance of children with spinal curvature at the Remedial
Exercises Clinic, and at the special corrective class at Whitehorse
Manor School, has no doubt proved a stimulus in the diagnosis
of children at an earlier stage of the disease than probably occurs
in towns where such provision is not made.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
The prevalence of infectious diseases was comparatively slight
throughout the whole year, and this was markedly the case in
respect of both scarlet fever and diphtheria. The only important
exception was that of whooping cough, which was somewhat more
prevalent than in 1922.