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assistance of two female attendants, one male attendant, two First
Aid Post nursing auxiliaries who have volunteered for this duty,
and a laundress, whilst the County Council's nurse has the assistance
of two female attendants. An Assistant Medical Officer of Health
visits the clinic once a week to see cases referred to him by the Sisterin
Charge and he is available at other times as required.
Since April, 1940, scabies has been treated by the BenzylBenzoate
method described in the memorandum on "The Prevalence
and Control of Scabies" issued by the Ministry of Health in May,
1942. The Ministry recommends in this memorandum that
where a case of scabies occurs in a house the whole family should,
if possible, be treated at the same time and contacts have been given
this prophylactic treatment whenever they have attended at the
Cleansing Station. Disinfection of the patients' personal clothing
is carried out whilst the patients are being treated, and bedding,
clothing, towels, etc., are collected from the homes for disinfection.
Every home in which a case of scabies occurs is visited by a Health
Visitor who carries out, as far as possible, examination of contacts
and takes such other steps as appear to be necessary to prevent the
spread of infection.
For the purpose of considering the causes of the increased
incidence of scabies and the further steps which might be taken to
combat this problem, details were taken in 300 consecutive cases.
Of these, 55 were men, 170 were women and 75 were children under
5 years of age. These cases were referred to the Cleansing Station
from the following sources:—
General Practitioners 145 cases
Hospitals 23 cases
Health Visitors 22 cases
Certifying Surgeons (Factory Act) 4 cases
Attended on their own accord 80 cases
Of the 225 adults included in this group of cases, 71 were
employed in factories or workshops, 3 were motor-drivers, 13 were
clerical workers, 8 were labourers, 21 were members of the Armed
Forces or Civil Defence Services and 77 were not employed. The
300 patients were treated with Benzyl-Benzoate; 30 needed only one
application, 185 needed two applications and 85 needed 3 or more
applications before cure was effected. Eight of these patients
returned subsequently for further treatment whilst 16 contacts of
these patients received prophylactic treatment, none of whom
developed scabies. Of the 75 children under 5 years of age included
in this group, 5 had mixed scabies and impetigo infection and this
necessarily involved prolonged treatment. It is interesting to note
that of the 71 factory workers treated only 5.6 per cent. were referred