London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Leyton 1942
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Leyton]
This page requires JavaScript
49
Report bv Dr. Mary L. Gilchrist.
One thing has been noticed at the School Minor Ailments
Clinic which is different from peacetime.
There has been a great increase in "skin complaints."
Urticarial conditions seem to go septic and be more resistant to
treatment than they used to be ; and a very severe type of " Bulbous
Impetigo " on the hands has been a source of great trouble at the
clinics.
The following table shows that it is not due to the increase in scabies cases, though with the fear of scabies in mind, manv persons with very slight skin conditions who would not have attended the clinic previously, now come for advice.
| Total M inor Ailment cases. | Scabies. | Impetigo. | Other Skin Conditions. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | ||
| 1938 | 2,890 | 66 | 2.3 | 164 | 5.6 | 479 | 16.5 |
| 1939 | 2,043 | 84 | 4.1 | 70 | 3.4 | 354 | 17.3 |
| 1940 | 944 | 47 | 4.9 | 55 | 5.8 | 265 | 2.8 |
| 1941 | 1,329 | 83 | 6.2 | 84 | 6.3 | 355 | 26.7 |
| 1942 | 1,985 | 160 | 8.0 | 94 | 4.7 | 660 | 33.2 |
The rise in the number of scabies cases had begun before the
war, though our impression of the numbers coming to the clinic is
greater than that here recorded. This is probably due to the
fact that when a child is brought to the clinic suffering from scabies,
mother is also examined along with any children under school age.
Persons other than school children do not appear in the school
clinic records, though the whole family is ordered treatment.
Similarly, when one school child attends alone and is found to have
scabies, brothers and sisters are directed for treatment at the
Scabies Clinic without having to attend first at the school clinic.
The diagnosis of scabies is not always easy. So many people
have heard of increased incidence of scabies, and that sulphur
ointment is good treatment, that it was very often difficult to
decide what the original skin condition had been as it was already
complicated by sulphur dermatitis.
The introduction of benzyl benzoate lias helped considerably
in removing the difficulty of further treatment where sulphur has
been ineffectively used for a long time.