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22
According to the severity of the disease two lines of
treatment may be adopted—(1) Home. (2) Institutional.
(1) Efficient home treatment will be sufficient for the
majority of the cases coming under observation, but it is important
that these cases should remain under constant medical
supervision either by attending a medical practitioner
or the eye clinic, in order that other means may be adopted
on the first sign of any complication.
(2) In the acute cases where complications are likely
to develop, and where home treatment would be inefficient,
the best results can only be obtained by removing the case
to hospital.
The child would then be under constant medical supervision
and receive the skilled nursing necessary in the early
stages of this disease to prevent permanent blindness, complete
or partial.
In such cases, on account of feeding, it is inadvisable to
separate the mother from the child, and provision has therefore
to be made for the mother to stay in hospital while the
child is under treatment.
With the necessary provision of beds at the hospital
for diseases of children, there should be little difficulty in
impressing upon the mother that the best results and a
speedy recovery can only be obtained by institutional treatment.
In one case during the year, constant medical supervision
was not obtained, with the result that the child was
finally admitted to hospital, one eye being so badly affected
that complete removal was necessary.
3. DIMINISHING THE RISK OF CATCHING
DISEASE.
The measures adopted to this end include:—
(a) Protection of the Milk and food supply;