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a very delicate boy, who in addition suffered from organic heart
disease. He appeared to derive considerable benefit from the
ultra-violet light treatment.
8.—INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
The incidence of infectious disease among the school population
was very much less during 1933 than during the previous year, the
total number of cases notified to me from the schools being 651, as
compared with 1,217 during 1932. The following list gives the
numbers of the different infectious diseases notified from the elementary
schools:—
Scarlet Fever 98
Diphtheria 9
Chickenpox 112
Measles 66
Mumps 220
Whooping Cough 118
Skin Infections 28
Total 651
The notifications received from the schools were spread fairly
evenly over the first three-quarters of the year, very few being
received during the last quarter, except a small batch of measles
cases notified in one of the infant schools in December. The months
during which the incidence was heaviest were March and April,
when mumps was prevalent in three of the schools, and June and
July when chickenpox and whooping cough were prevalent in several
of the infant departments. So far as scarlet fever and diphtheria
were concerned these diseases, and particularly the latter, were
responsible for comparatively little infection among the school
children, and in the case of scarlet fever only a few more cases
occurred during the year in the school population than in the rest
of the community, while the number of cases of diphtheria occuriing
in school children was less than half of the total number notified.
This is shown in the following table which gives the cases of scarlet
fever and diphtheria notified in the individual schools, and in
persons over and under school age.
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