[Report 1964] / Principal School Medical Officer of Health, Warwickshire County Council.

  • Warwickshire County Council
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1964] / Principal School Medical Officer of Health, Warwickshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    phylactic measure usually to school leavers and students. Under this scheme 6,520 children were offered B.C.G., and an acceptance rate of 84% was obtained. Nearly 17% of the children who were skin tested showed a positive reaction, and did not therefore require vaccination. Of the remainder, 4,071 received B.C.G. vaccination. Typhoid and Paratyphoid. One typhoid and one paratyphoid case were notified during the year in the five to fourteen year age-group. Both cases were boys. The source of infection of the typhoid case was a carrier; the paratyphoid case was contracted abroad. No case was reported in a child of school-age during 1963. Dysentery. Fewer cases of dysentery were notified in the year:— 5-9 . 10-14 . 271 ... 107 five to fourteen year old children during 1963 1964 199 75 72 32 This disease is usually very infectious and is more prevalent amongst children. Notifi¬ cations by quarter show that these are higher in the first two quarters of the year. March June Sept. Dec. Total 1963 . 164 ... 90 ... 11 ... 6 ... 271 1964 . 81 ... 18 ... 4 ... 4 ... 107 Because of the infectious nature of the disease a reliable standard of personal hygiene is essential at all times if infection is to be kept to a minimum. This subject is stressed in health education in the schools. School Canteens. During the year most of the School Canteen Workers received talks on food hygiene from the County Health Inspector. Routine inspections were also made at school kitchens and canteens. School Medical Examinations. Since the inception of the School Medical Service, children have had a routine medical examination on entering school, between ten and eleven years, and again before leaving school. Children could also be examined at any time during the intervening years at the request of a parent or teacher, etc. As the standard of child health has risen considerably, the continuation of periodic medical examinations (with the exception of the entrants examination) has become a controversial subject. These examinations have been a substantial help to the school child in the past. But the detection of early disease processes is far more difficult than the public realises. The earlier the disease, the less there is to detect and consequently the examination has greater technical difficulties. Whenever possible a medical history should be obtained and this in part might be supplied by the teacher (in addition to the information supplied by the parents). We are moving into a new era of school medical examinations but it will be some time before the full advantages can be realised. In this County, one Area has been investigating the possibilities of selective examination of children in the intermediate age-group. Some selective examinations will soon begin in the larger schools where the numbers on roll are such that a school doctor already has to pay three or more visits in any one year. Questionnaires will be sent to parents, and the selection will be made by the Medical Officer in the light of this record and the school medical record. More frequent eye-testing is also being undertaken in this Area. The frequency has been limited to alternate years, but as soon as possible annual testing will be undertaken.
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