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59
The cases were distributed in the schools as follows :
Child's Hill School 7 Bell Lane School 2
Algernon Rd. School 6 St. John's School 4
All Saint's School 2 Burnt Oak School 2
Garden Suburb School 4 Wessex Gardens School 1
The Hyde School 9 St Mary's C.E. School 1
It will be seen that the cases were spread over practically
all the schools in the District except the Mill Hill
Schools, and the schools specially involved are those which
serve the parts of the district which were specially affected,
namely Cricklewood and West Hendon.
The total number of cases occurring in the district
during the period was 76 while the number of cases among
children attending the Public Elementary Schools was 38.
This is a smaller proportion than one would be inclined to
expect, considering that Diphtheria is to a large extent a
disease of childhood. It strongly suggests that school
attendance did not play an important part in spreading the
disease.
As soon as the schools re-opened after the Christmas
holidays all the children attending the schools in the
specially affected parts of the district were examined. All
children of whom there was any suspicion that they might
be suffering from a mild attack of Diphtheria, or that they
might be carriers of the disease, were excluded after swabs
had been taken. 64 were thus excluded. 4 of these were
eventually diagnosed as suffering from Diphtheria, 12 others
were found to have positive swabs and were looked on as
possible carriers. These children remained excluded till
freed from all suspicion of infection.
FOLLOWING UP.
When children are found to be suffering from defects
their parents are informed and advised to consult their own
doctors. The School Nurses visit the homes to see if this
has been done and to urge the parents to obtain treatment
if they have not done so. 2210 visits were paid by the
School Nurses. The defective children are re-examined in
the schools and at the clinic by the Medical Officer to
ascertain the results of treatment. Children who require it
are thus kept under continuous observation.