[Report 1963] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.

  • Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1963
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1963] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/58 (page 7)
    INFECTIOUS DISEASE AND ITS PREVENTION Even though 1963 was a year in which measles was prevalent the total of 303 cases among school children was smaller than the usual biennial peak. There was a welcome reduction in the notified cases of dysentery from 17 to 2. There was no case of poliomyelitis, the virtual absence of v/hich disease contrasts with the prominence that seriously disabled cases of poliomyelitis receive in the television programme Emergency Ward 10. The programme is hov/ever doing a service in keeping the importance of polio vaccination before the public for there is no doubt that the demand for vaccination has slumped now that the disease has been so much better controlled and public anxiety allayed. The campaign for the prevention of tuberculosis continued, the parents of children aged 13 or thereabouts being offered vaccination against tuberculosis for their off-spring in this age group. As a preliminary to this B.C.G. vaccination, a Hantoux skin test is done to ascertain whether the child has ever been in contact v;ith tuberculosis infection - which gives a positive reaction. Only a very small proportion of these positive reactors have ever suffered from tuberculosis however. In 1963 there was a further rise in the proportion of Mantoux positive children - 11.7% compared with ; 10,9% last year. Of the Ll children of Indian or Pakistani ^ ; parentage 2A showed positive skin tests; the Mantoux positive rate among children other than those of Asiatic origin being 8.9% which is nearer to the expected level in this country. DENTAL CARE As this letter is being written we have received the news with great regret that the Principal School Dental Officer, Mr. T. Lucas, has been appointed to a similar position with the Oxfordshire Local Education Authority. His report which forms Part Three of the main Report is in the nature of a valedictory address and has solid achievement on which to look back. His work has been materially assisted by the high standard of dental staffing he was able to attract. Until the departure of Mrs. Hiscock, one of our full time dental officers, Smethv/ick had for a period a higher dental staffing ratio than any other Local Education Authority in England and Wales. It is natural therefore that Mr, Lucas should be more than keen to restore the favourable position. In any profession in which the demand for staff far exceeds the supply and national salary scales are in operation, inducements are likely to be offered by some authorities in the shape of 'fringe benefits' for example above the minimum leave entitlement. Before concluding this section it must be said that increasing emphasis is being placed on dental health education v/hich is especially important in an area where the water supply is so deficient in fluoride content as to impair the formation of strong ho-i] tliy teeth which are resistant to decay.