London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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East Ham 1909

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for East Ham]

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Number Examined.Vermin of Body.Vermin of Head.
Number.Poreontagi'.Number.Percentage.
Boys1692352.1321.9
Girls1931442.31246.4

In connection with verminous heads, comparison of the
figures for hoys and girls gives strong evidence for the advisability
of girls' hair being kept short.
Nutrition.— This is an important item and one difficult to
classify. 46 children were recorded as suffering from
defective nutiition. It must not be assumed that this number
were therefore insufficiently fed. Some cases may be due to
unsuitable food or defective assimilation. More accurate
classification cannot be adopted unless the homes are visited
and further information obtained, but with only one School
Nurse it is impossible at present to do this. The head teachers'
attention was called to all cases where deficient feeding was
suspected in order that the child might benefit by the
arrangements made for feeding necessitous children.
Heart Disease.— Most of these cases were of a mild degree
and did not require exclusion from school. Instructions were
given to the teachers not to allow any long continued cr
violent exercise during playtime, etc.
One case was probab'y caused by the strain of carrying
heavy weights, the boy being engaged out of school hours in
delivering milk.
Tuberculosis.— One of the most satisfactory items in this
report is the few cases of Tuberculosis that were found in
the children inspected. It is quite possible that a few very
early cases may have been overlooked. It is also probable
that some children had tuberculous glands or disease in internal
parts not accessible to examination, but these cases
will not be numerous.