View report page

Crippling Defects.—In Table III. are indicated nineteen
cases of crippling defects in boys and twenty-one in girls attending
public elementary schools. Two cripple boys and five girls are
not attending school. " Crippling " included such conditions as
paralysis, severe bony deformities, either congenital or acquired
and severe heart disease.
Round .Shoulders and Spinal Curvature.—Forty-six cases
of round shoulders and thirty-seven of spinal curvature were
observed during routine medical inspection. Although these
defects give a very small percentage out of over 2,000 children
examined, they are deserving of mention because the greater
number of them are avoidable and might be obviated by closer
observation of the carriage and attitude of the children concerned,
and by the use of suitable corrective exercises. By close attention
in school and especially in the course of physical exercises the
teachers can do a great deal to ameliorate these conditions.
Vaccination.—Only 1,372 children, or 57.4 per cent., bore
signs of successful vaccination. In other words nearly every
second child is inadequately protected against smallpox. This
shows how easily exemption from vaccination can now be obtained ;
it also indicates the large proportion of susceptible members of the
community to be taken into consideration should the district be
involved in an outbreak of smallpox.