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6
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
An outbreak of Sonne Dysentery occurred in a school at New
Addington. It responded to the measures outlined in ray Report
last year. The school concerned was of the latest design with
sanitary annexes adjoining the infant classrooms. The initial
disappointment of the staff that entry to their new school should
be followed by an outbreak of Dysentery is understandable. While
control was much easier with a building of this type, the outbreak
emphasised that school buildings however well designed can
no more replace training and supervision in the. teaching of
hygiene than in the pursuit of general education.
Sonnd Dysentery is a stringent test and few children of five
or six years of age have the knowledge or ability to achieve
unaided a satisfactory standard of toilet hygiene.
The cases of Ringworm of the body were traced to infected
cats and as the animals were obviously ill, the sources of the
infection were dealt with promptly.
Infectious Jaundice was more prevalent than recorded cases
suggest and one child died from subsequent hepatic failure. Medical
and Nursing personnel were warned to keep this illness in
mind to ensure prompt exclusion and adequate treatment of cases.
Poliomyelitis was of average prevalence and cases were mainly
mild in character.
Findings at Routine Medical Inspections.
The figures shown in Appendix B, Table 5 follow the usual
pattern. Defects of the nose and throat in Entrants relate to
enlargement of the tonsils and adenoids. This is part of the
general reaction of children to infections of the respiratory
tract. In this connection, a record was made for the first tine
of the number of children seen at routine-medical inspections
who had undergone the operation for removal of tonsils and
adenoids. It will be observed that one third of all school
leavers in Croydon had undergone this operation.
Vision tests depend upon ability to read letters or figures
and consequently the first age group to have this examination as
a routine measure are the eight years old. Where there is a defect
which obviously interferes with education amongst younger children,
they are, of course, dealt with individually as is shown
by the small percentage recorded in the general table relating
to defects found at medical inspections.