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46
Report by Dr. Dorothy B. Gere.
The number of cases treated in 1931 was much larger than in the previous
year and individual attendances were well maintained.
One hundred and four cases completed treatment during the year, and these
included:—
Malnutrition 38 cases
Rickets 25 ,,
Failure to gain weight 14 ,,
Ante-natal 6 ,,
Debility 7 ,,
Marasmus 6 ,,
Cervical adenitis 2 ,,
Cough 2 ,,
Post-natal 2 ,,
Eczema 1 ,,
Nervousness 1 ,,
Malnutrition.—It is advisable that specific causes of malnutrition, such as
unhealthy tonsils, should be treated before light treatment is commenced, otherwise
much improvement cannot be expected. In some cases a short course of
light treatment will get the patient into better condition for operation and light
treatment can be resumed afterwards.
The average gain in weight during treatment was 8.5 ounces per month.
Rickets.—The cases of rickets treated during the year were of varying severity.
As a rule the worst cases occur among children of unsatisfactory parents and
difficulty is experienced in securing regular attendance at the Clinic. These
severe cases are referred in the first place to the British Red Cross Society's
Clinic for X-ray examination.
It is important to get bony defects treated by an orthopaedic surgeon after
curing the active disease.
Failure to gain weight.—Some of these children, though appearing wellnourished,
had failed to put on weight over a period of weeks or months, through
defective metabolism.
The average gain in weight of these patients was 7.2 ounces per month.
Ante-Natal cases.—These included the following:—
(а) Lumbar muscular pain.—This patient asked for light treatment,
because she had had similar treatment for this condition before her previous
confinement. She stated that she had never felt so well as after the previous
course of treatment.
(b) Debility (two cases).—Both patients were greatly improved in health
after treatment.
(c) Psoriasis.—This condition was of many years' standing. The
patient considered that the rash had definitely improved after light treatment,
the spots becoming fewer in niimber and less scaly.
(d) Defective lactation.—This patient had been unsuccessful in her
efforts to breast-feed her third child, and only managed to feed the two
previous children for between two and three months. The last baby she
was still breast-feeding at five months.