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CONTROL OF VERMIN AND SCABIES
By the courtesy of the School Medical Officer particulars regarding the
cleanliness surveys in schools have been obtained and are as follows-
Number of children examined:-
Primary Schools 15,476
Secondary Modern Schools 4,379
19,655
Number of children requiring treatment 144
Number of children in respect of whom
cleansing notices were issued 79
Number of children cleansed by Local
Health Authority 29
There was an increase of 823 in the total number of cleanliness inspections
and an increase in the number of children who had become infested with head lice,
from 118 in 1953 to 144 in 1954.
The number of children found on inspection during 1954 to be in need of
cleansing from infestation with vermin is unsatisfactory as there is a considerable
rise over the previous year's figure. It is also observed that the number
of cleansing notices required was almost double that for the previous year and
the number of children compulsorily cleansed had also risen though to a less
considerable extent.
In comparing these figures with those received for the County as a whole,
it is not very pleasing to note that the general average rate of vermin infestation
for the County is -44%, a decrease since last year, while in Brentford
and Chiswick the percentage is .73, an increase over last year's figure.
One of the main difficulties in dealing with this problem is that very often
infestation is carried on in a household because adult members of the family
are infested and there is no legal authority for any one to insist on an
inspection of adult contacts of infested school children.
During the year one application was received for the cleansing of a person
suffering from scabies The treatment was carried out at Hammersmith Cleansing
Station by arrangement with the Medical Officer of Health of Hammersmith.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
In the year 1954 there was an extremely lowincidence of infectious disease.
This was principally due to the fall in measles notifications. Measles is a
disease showing a marked biennial fluctuation and the current year was the year
of the trough of the wave. The up and down nature of this disease can be
observed from the following table of notifications of this disease during the
past ten years
1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954
525 188 438 335 511 269 863 413 810 47
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