View report page

2
Infectious Diseases
A moderate outbreak of Sonne dysentery in a South Croydon
school responded to the usual control measures. The annoyance of
submitting specimens and the exclusion of apparently healthy
children produced complaints from several parents, in which both
the staff of the school and the department were involved. Sonne
dysentery is not a serious disease, and action for its suppression
may seem more irksome than the actual illness. Previous
local experience has shown, however, that in Infants' schools it
can be ignored only at the risk of an outbreak involving the
majority of scholars. Some disruption of school routine and
inconvenience for parents, inseparable from preventive action,
are therefore justified. Plantar warts were diagnosed as affecting
an unusually large number of children, especially in New
Addington. A similar frequency was observed some years ago in
the County Borough area, and I included the results of a survey
in my Report for 1959. The conclusions made then still apply.
Although the condition is a reaction to a microscopic virus, it
cannot be eliminated merely by disinfection. Restraints on barefoot
drill and games, careful sterilising techniques for changing
rooms, showers, and swimming baths, the early detection and
treatment of affected children and their exclusion from barefoot
activities, and talks on the care of the feet, especially for
older girls, are all essential. Plantar warts are minor but
painful afflictions of which prevention is fallible and treatment
tedious. With present knowledge they must be accepted as a
small risk of children's athletics.
Handicapped Children
A preoccupation during the year was the lengthening waiting
list for educationally subnormal pupils. Despite conferences
with officers of the Department of Education and Science, no
early solution could be foreseen. Although our duty in the
School Health Service may be limited to ascertainment and
recommendations for special education, we cannot escape involvement
in the difficulties which arise when suitable facilities
are not available. Even more disturbing was the failure to
recruit staff for the day unit for partially hearing children.
In my last County Borough report I drew attention to the increase
in the number of severely deaf pre-school children, whose
defect probably related to the 1962 outbreak of Rubella. It was
not possible to meet all their needs because no trained teacher
applied in response to repeated advertisements. It may be that
the time lost in this vital early stage of their education can