[Report 1937] / School Medical Officer of Health, Salop / Shropshire County Council.

  • Shropshire Council
Date:
1937
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1937] / School Medical Officer of Health, Salop / Shropshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/42 (page 14)
    Certificates of Exclusion.—1,101 certificates of exclusion from school on account of infectious disease and other conditions were sent in by the Assistant School Medical Officers and Tuber¬ culosis Officers, of which the following are the particulars :— Impetigo 104 Bronchial Catarrh 30 Coughs and Colds 64 Rheumatism . . 14 Sore Throat 47 Suspected Phthisis . . 13 Tonsilitis 65 Whooping Cough 20 Debility 79 Otorrhoea 11 Bronchitis 64 Chorea. . 15 Scabies 30 Mumps 22 Influenza 87 Tubercular Peritonitis 2 Tuberculous Glands . . 30 Chicken-pox . . 29 Heart Conditions 10 Anaemia 26 Ringworm of Body 28 Conjunctivitis 24 Ringworm of Scalp 10 Scarlet Fever 2 Pulmonary Tuberculosis 3 Various Conditions . . 272 Closure of Schools.—During the year 31 schools were closed by the Local Education Authority to prevent the spread of infectious disease, and below are given particulars of school closures during the year :—■ Measles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Diphtheria . . . . . . . . .. . . 4 Scarlet Fever . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 In 25 instances attempts were made to prevent outbreaks of measles by closing the schools for about a week, nine or ten days after the occurrence of the first case, with the following result :— In 7 instances no further cases occurred. Closure in these instances must therefore be con¬ sidered to have been unnecessary. In 4 instances cases occurred during closure, and further cases developed after re-opening. Closure again proved to be without effect. In 2 instances no cases occurred during closure, but one or more cases developed after re¬ opening. Again closure did not justify itself as these bore no relationship to the first cases. In the 12 remaining instances cases occurred during the closure, and the children affected did not return to school until free from infection. There was no further outbreak, and it is justi¬ fiable to conclude that the closure was effective in checking the spread of the disease. Upon notification of a single case of mieasles from a school where the number of susceptible children is less than 50 per cent, of the number on the register it has been considered preferable to exclude these children rather than to close the whole school. During 1937, susceptibles were excluded in 19 instances, with the following results :— In 5 instances no further cases of measles developed either during exclusion or after re¬ admission. In 4 instances cases occurred both during exclusion and after re-admission. In ^ instancet cases developed after re-admission, none having occurred during the exclusion. In 9 instances cases occurred during exclusion and none afterwards. This action may therefore be said to have justified itself in 9 instances out of 19.