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113
some of the Surrey children owing to the distances which they
had to come.
As in previous years every effort was made to obtain the
co-operation of the parents in overcoming these defects of
speech as it is essential that the principles laid down in the
Speech Clinic, as far as possible, be carried out in the home.
8. INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
The means adopted to prevent the spread of infectious
diseases among school children are :—
(a) The exclusion of children suffering from infectious
diseases or coming from infected houses;
(b) Closure of schools or departments;
(c) Disinfection of schools.
(a) To-day, the first procedure is the one which is almost
entirely relied upon. As.soon as a case of infectious disease
is notified a visit is paid to the house by one of the members
of the Sanitary Staff. Home contacts are excluded from
school until the end of the necessary quarantine period.
Notices to this effect are sent out from the Public Health
Department to the Head Teachers concerned and also to the
School Attendance Department.
(b) School closure is rarely resorted to to-day and on no
occasion was it found necessary to recommend this during the
year under review.
When the attendance, however, falls below 60%, certificates
may be supplied by the School Medical Officer to that
effect as outlined in Paragraph 15 (ii) of Administrative
Memorandum No. 51, 1927. No certificates in accordance with
this Rule were issued during 1937.
(c) During the holidays the disinfection of each school
was carried out as in previous years. Disinfection of classrooms
was also carried out periodically as the necessity arose.
Much less reliance is now placed in the efficacy of this procedure
for the control of infectious diseases.
Frequent visits were paid to the schools after children
had been removed to the Infectious Diseases Hospital suffering
from diphtheria or scarlet fever. It is quite common for
children to attend school whilst sickening for these diseases.
In all such cases, the class contacts were carefully examined
and in a number of instances swabs were taken for bacteriological
examination. Carriers detected in this manner are
promptly excluded