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65
OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM
No infants were notified this year as suffering from ophthalmia
neonatorum.
NON-NOTIFIABLE INFECTIONS
Information about most of these conditions is obtained from the
head teachers of schools about pupils who are absent either because they
are suffering or because they are contacts of those suffering from such
conditions.
Chickenpox.
Some schools, namely, the Bridge, Glebe, Pinner Park and Roxeth
Manor which were attacked in the Spring term, were virtually free for
the rest of the year. Aylward, Roxbourne and Greenhill which had
escaped in the Spring term were attacked in the Summer term. Only
Cannon Lane and Stanburn were affected to any extent in both terms.
Many schools were lightly attacked in the last term of the year. In all,
1,036 intimations were received.
Mumps.
This infection was more common this last year than in recent years,
898 intimations being received. The incidence was confined almost
entirely to the first two terms, only Glebe School being affected to any
extent in the third term. Most schools affected at all were attacked in
both terms, though Longfield and Pinner Park were attacked only in the
Spring terms, and Aylward only in the Summer term.
German Measles.
This is a complaint which is sometimes prevalent when the ordinary
measles is about. A few years ago, the district was heavily attacked at
a time when ordinary measles was not prevalent. The ordinary type of
measles as seen amongst school children, died out after the first few
weeks of the year and did not reappear until the last weeks. German
measles however, although it was present amongst the pupils of four
schools in January and February, did not become generally distributed
until March. From then on it was present in many schools, dying out
in most in June, though there were occasional cases in a few schools in
July, and again when the schools re-opened after the summer holidays.
Junior schools were more heavily attacked than the Infants' departments.
In all, 991 intimations were received.
German measles occurring in children is typically a mild complaint.
It is now being appreciated that it is a very much more serious matter
when affecting an expectant mother, not so much because of its effect on
the mother herself as on the child she is carrying. This is more marked
if the mother contracts the infection in the earlier stages of her pregnancy.
In such cases the infant may exhibit developmental abnormalities such
as changes in the eye or in the heart.