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94
EAR, NOSE AND THROAT DEFECTS.
Two hundred and thirty-four children received operative treatment
in hospitals for adenoids and chronic tonsillitis during 1956.
This figure is nearly double that for the previous year and the
increase is undoubtedly due to the fact that it was not necessary to
hold these operations in abeyance due to the prevalence of
poliomyelitis. One child received operative treatment for mastoid,
and seven for sinus trouble, etc.
In addition to the above, thirty-two children received other
forms of treatment at the school clinics and as out-patients at
hospitals.
VERMIN AND UNCLEANLINESS.
Seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty-eight inspections
were carried out by the School Nurses at Primary and Secondary
Schools. No inspections were made at the Grammar and Technical
Schools.
A total of forty-three children were found to be infested or
shewed minor signs of infestation. These figures continue to shew a
very high standard of cleanliness.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN SCHOOLS.
Notifications of infectious diseases in children of school age
have been remarkably low during 1956. only 149 being notified as
against 535 during the previous year.
Six cases of Scarlet Fever were notified as against thirty-eight
during 1955. These were all mild cases and none were admitted
to hospital.
Whooping Cough shewed a slight rise, fifty-eight cases being
notified as against forty-nine for the previous year. Three of these
cases were admitted to hospital.
The main decrease in notifications occurred in the number of
cases of measles, only forty-five being notified as against four
hundred and thirty-three in 1955.
One case of poliomyelitis (paralytic) was notified in October.
This was in respect of a six-year-old child attending an independent
school in the area. The patient had only mild paralysis and has
since made a good recovery.
Thirty-seven cases of Dysentery were notified, as against three
during the previous year. The majority of these cases occurred
during the latter part of the year, and affected children attending
one primary school in the borough.
Although this illness, in the form now prevalent, is generally
very mild in character (only one of the cases reported above
required hospital treatment), there is no doubt that it is becoming
more of a problem. This is because of the ease with which the