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305 or 11.2% 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 were sent up by the teachers and
attendance officers. There were 5 cases of ringworm of the
scalp and 36 cases of ringworm of the body. 22 of the cases
were due to scabies, 99 to impetigo, and 143 to other skin
conditions.
Ringworm of the scalp and scabies are not of frequent
occurrence amongst school children in Wimbledon. Impetigo,
however, is common amongst all school children. As it is contagious,
many children suffering from impetigo have to be
excluded temporarily from school. It is a minor ailment which
is responsible for a not inconsiderable loss of school attendance.
(f) External Eye Disease. There were 13 cases of external
eye disease amongst the 1,905 routine children examined. This
gives a percentage of 0.7. 9 of the cases were due to blepharitis
and some of these were very mild. In addition, there were 4
cases of conjunctivitis. No cases of keratitis were discovered.
At the Special Inspection there were 08 cases or 2.5% due
to external eye disease. 31 were due to blepharitis, and 37 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 09 children were found to be suffering
from defective vision requiring treatment and 15 to be suffering
from squint. This makes a total of 84 cases requiring treatment
or 4.4% of the children examined. The figure for the previous
year was 5%. The actual incidence of defective vision rerequiring
treatment is, however, higher than 4.4%. Of the 1,905
children examined as routine cases 731 were entrants and in the
majority of these it was impossible to carry out subjective visual
tests on account of their age. In addition, 52 children with
slighter degrees of defective vision were found at school. These
cases did not require treatment but required to be kept under
observation. In the absence of medical inspection a large number
of children would undoubtedly be handicapped in their
school life by uncorrected defective vision, and their education
would suffer very considerably.
Of the children examined as special cases at the Health
Centre there were 39 with defective vision and 4 with squint requiring
treatment, and 3 with defective vision or squint requiring
to be kept under observation. The cases which are kept under
observation and not referred for immediate treatment are those
with minor defects of vision.
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