View report page

CONTROL OF LICE INFESTATION.
(Ministry of Health Circular 2831, July 1943, and Memo 230A/Med)
The same policy was adopted as in previous years and this
report is a repetition of a previous report, with alteration of
statistical figures.
(1) All children, especially 2— 5 age groups, are inspected
by the Health Visitors at the Maternity and Child Welfare
Clinics.
(2) All children attending Day Nurseries are examined for
nits each day on admission.
(3) At the schools, an average of 9.5 visits to each school
were made by the School Nurses, for Hygiene Inspections.
During the year, 25,418 examinations were made.
(4) Cases referred from Factories, etc.
Findings at these Inspections :—
(1) At the M. & C.W. Clinics any degree of contamination
was very rare. Perhaps the usual type of mother who
will trouble to take her children to these clinics will also
take the trouble to see that her children are clean.
(2) At the Day Nurseries, especially the war-time Nurseries,
the incidence of infestation was higher. In these cases
the mothers, being engaged in Factory work, etc., had
less time and leisure to pay the necessary attention to
their children.
(3) In the schools, 434 children were found to have nits. The
majority of these were cases of very mild infestation, but
there were a few who were always found to have nits and
who, after cleansing thoroughly, quickly became infested
again.
(4) No cases were referred from Factories in 1945.
Methods of Dealing with Cases.
Agents used :—
(i) Derbac Soap and Sacca Comb.
(ii) Lethane Hair Oil.
The vast majority of the cases were treated with Derbac
Soap and Sacca Comb or some other form of small tooth comb.
30