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26
The relief from itching obtained as a result of one application it seems in
some cases was most striking. Very few patients returned for subsequent
treatment and those who did were considered to be cases of re-infection
rather than of relapse.
Lice Infestation.
Early in the year because attention had been drawn to the high rate
of infestation of heads of children and adolescents the records of the
patients admitted to the local isolation hospital were analysed, yielding
most disquieting results. Of children under five years of age 25 per cent
of the heads of the girls and 10 per cent of those of the boys were infested,
the year of heaviest incidence being the fourth. These rates were higher
than those relating to children of school age ; of the girls of five to nine
years, 16 per cent being affected and of boys of the same ages, 7 per cent,
while the corresponding figures of those from 10 to 14 years of age were
15 and 2. All male adolescents of 15 to 19 were free, but 8 per cent
of the females of these ages were infested. These figures were very much
higher than had been expected by those whose work brought them into
contact with children. Apart from the high rate of infestation, the most
striking finding is that the incidence rate is higher amongst those of
pre-school age and not amongst those of school ages. Even amongst
these though the incidence of infestation is considerably higher than
that disclosed by the findings of tho school nurses who recorded in
1940 an average incidence of not more than 3 per cent. A sample
investigation carried out by the health visitors subsequent to the study
of the hospital records, an enquiry in the conduct of which every attempt
was made to make the population examined as representative a cross
section of the population as possible, disclosed an average incidence of
infestation of 7.5 per cent of those children of over one but under five
years of age. This figure was an average of ranges from 0 to 30 per cent.,
five of the fourteen health visitors recording nil returns, while one recorded
a percentage infestation of 26 and another of 30. The incidence amongst
the different age groups was fairly uniform, being 6 per cent,
in the groups 1 to 2 and 3 to 4, and 8 per cent in the others Apart from
the special attention it was decided should be devoted to the specially
affected areas, added facilities were put in the way of those wishing to
obtain instruction while, in addition, arrangements were made at the
different clinics and first aid posts for the cleansing of the heads of those
infested.