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In addition seven other cases of tuberculosis were found, two
being cases of tuberculous glands and one a case of tuberculous
hip. These children were under treatment and the disease was
in an arrested condition.
At the special inspections conducted at the Health Centre
there were two suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and
and one other non-pulmonary case.
The suspected cases were referred to the Tuberculosis
Physician between whom and the school medical staff a close
co-operation is maintained. The other case was already under
treatment.
(e) Skin Disease. Of the children examined as routine cases
in the schools 2% were found to be suffering from skin diseases.
There were 38 cases in all. Two were suffering from ringworm
of the scalp, twelve from impetigo and 24 from other minor
skin ailments.
349 or 12.4 % of the special cases examined at the Health
Centre were discovered to be suffering from diseases of the skin.
A great number of these cases are sent up by the teachers and
attendance officers. There were six cases of ringworm of the
scalp and 48 cases of ringworm of the body. 17 of the cases
were due to scabies, 148 to impetigo, and 130 to other skin
conditions.
Very few cases of scabies and ringworm of the scalp occur
amongst school children in Wimbledon. Impetigo however, is
of fairly frequent occurrence.
(/) External Eye Disease. There were 26 cases of external
eye disease amongst the 1,891 routine children examined. This
gives a percentage of 1.4. 21 of the cases were due to blepharitis
and some of these were very mild. In addition there were
4 cases of conjunctivitis and one due to keratitis.
At the Special Inspection there were 81 cases or 2.8% due
to external eye disease. 53 were due to blepharitis, and 28 to
conjunctivitis.
Serious conditions- such as keratitis and corneal opacities
are fortunately only rarely found amongst the school children
in Wimbledon.
(g) Defective Vision. Defective vision is one of the most
important defects discovered amongst school children. At the
routine medical inspection 74 children were found to be suffering
from defective vision requiring treatment and 21 to be suffering
from squint. This makes a total of 95 cases requiring treatment
or 5% of the children examined. The figure for the previous
year was 4.3%. The actual incidence of defective vision requiring
treatment is, however, higher than 5%. Of the 1,891
children examined as routine cases 620 were entrants and in the
majority of these it was impossible to carry out subjective visual
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