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80
Puerperal Fever and Pyrexia.
Nine notifications were received during the year;
of these, six were those of puerperal pyrexia and three
puerperal fever. Per 1,000 total births (i.e., live and
stillbirths) the rates for these conditions were 3.08 and
1.54, the corresponding figures for the country as a whole
being 9.64 and 3.27, a truly remarkable contrast.
Every case of this condition is investigated by a
Health Visitor and in addition many of them are visited
by the Medical Officer of Health.
Work of Health Visitors.
The new scheme introduced for planning and
recording visits by Health Visitors has been in operation
sufficiently long to show that it has enhanced the
efficiency of this branch of the service.
This scheme ensures that no children shall be
overlooked and allows a continuous record of their
history to be filed, which is subsequently passed on to
the County Council for the information of the School
Medical Officers. In addition to the routine visits,
special visits are paid to cases of ophthalmia neonatorum,
puerperal fever and pyrexia, stillbirths, infant deaths,
etc., and subsequent to operative treatment of tonsils
and adenoids. The Health Visitors also attend the
various clinics. In the case of infant welfare centres
and ante-natal clinics, the Health Visitor is, as far as
possible, in charge of the session at which the mothers
from her district attend, thus preserving the personal
association of the Health Visitor with the mother and
children who live in her area.