View report page

70
One gratifying feature of this total is that although the total number of children examined
during 1960 had increased by 508 compared with the previous year, yet 27 fewer pupils were
deemed tobe of unsatisfactory condition In this connection, however, the term unsatisfactory'
applies only to the child s general physique and the referral of minor defects to the ophthalmologists,
ear, nose and throat specialists and orthopaedic surgeons continued to fill the special clinics to
capacity
Infectious Diseases in School Children 1960
From the point of view of infection. 1960 was, generally speaking, an uneventful year and,
as had been anticipated, measles remained relatively quiescent
Poliomyelitis Only one case of poliomyelitis occurred in a school child during the year
This was a boy, aged six years, who was admitted to hospital on the 30th November with evidence
of paralysis On discharge from hospital, he was seen by a school medical officer who found some
residual weakness in his left leg, but this has not prevented him from returning to his normal school.
Dysentery From time to time throughout the year cases occurred in both boroughs but there
were no explosive outbreaks in the schools. A smouldering infection in a day nursery during
August had its repercussions amongstthe older siblings of the inmates, butthe general picture is
indicated by the fall in recorded cases in Tottenham from 251 in 1959 to 66 in the year under
review.
Tuberculosis: In the year as a whole six new cases of tuberculosis were notified in children
of school age, one more than the previous year; one child developed tubercular meningitis but the
remaining cases were due to pulmonary infections
Two of these children attend schools outside this Area and the source case of one of them
was traced to his school in Wales. In three of the four remaining cases an adult iiving in the
same house was found to be infected and appropriate action was taken. In the sixth case, a
girl of fourteen years, the pulmonary infection was discovered as a result of a strongly positive
reaction to routine Mantoux testing As no contact could be found in the household, in consultation
with the chest physician, an epidemiological survey was instituted Sixteen of her class
mates were Mantoux tested and had chest X-rays, all with satisfactory results; whilst the remainder
of her class had been dealt with previously as part of the normal B.C.G. programme A
similar investgation of her teachers revealed no source of infection.
B C G Vaccination Throughout the year the B.C.G. programme was steadily pursued and
more than twice the number of children were vaccinated compared with 1959 From the following
table it will be seen that for the first time students from two technical colleges were brought
into the scheme; an important innovation bearing in mind the susceptibility of the adolescent to
this disease