STRIKING DISCLOSURE.

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18518, 24 December 1931, Page 3

STRIKING DISCLOSURE.

BY MEDICAL OFFICER. 1 RAVAGES OF TUBERCULOSIS. BRITAIN BECOMING IMMUNE. That the Inhabitants of Britain are, from some mysterious, cause, gradually becoming Immune from tuberculosis is the striking disclosure made by Sir George Newman, chief medical olilcer of the British Board of Education, in his annual report on "The Health of the School Child." Sir George also emphasises the steady and continuous improvement tn the physical condition of children since 1907, and the revolution in cleanliness and dress. Sir George states that although tuberculosis was responsible in 1930 for 14 per cent, of the total deaths between five and 15 years, it is steadily declining. For children of school age the death rate from non-pulmonary tuberculosis lias been practically halved In 20 years and there is evidence that in the last ten years there has been a decline in tho number of deaths from tuberculosis of ail forms in childhood. From 1921 to 1930 the death rato for various forms of tuberculosis in children up to 15 years eff age has fallen by 35 per cent. Sir George goes on to mention various factors—belter nutrition, less overcrowding, extension of child welfare, and increased use of milk free from tuberculosis. "At I lie back of all these,” he declares, “there may well be a biological change, Imponderable and - difficult to measure, by which the! English people are undergoing some degree of racial Immunisation against this disease, or possibly even that the types of tubercle bacillus are lcss virulent than formerly. "We do not know; but we do know that everything which lessens massive or long-continued Infection, or increases and fortifies the powers of the body’s resistance to such lnfeotlon, contributes to the reduction of suffering and mortality from tuberculosis."

After stating that since 1907 there has been “a steady and continuous Improvement In the average physical condition of the normal child,” Sir George says there has been “an Increase in .height and weight at appropriate ratio, an absolute increase In personal cleanliness, a definite improvement in physical health which finds its expression partly In robust health and partly in Increased resistance to disease.”

Even defects of vision, disease of the skin, enlarged tonsils and adenoids are much less severe than a generation ago.

"Nothing,” adds Sir George, “Is more remarkable in the history of the 24 years than the growth In the Interest and

Sense of Responsibility of the parents. "Thus in London 75 per cent, of parents actually attend the medical inspection of their children (and 89 per cent, at the Inspection of infants) ; at Shrewsbury, 81 per cent, attend at the inspection of Infants and 64 per cent, at that of the eight-year-oldr; at Birkenhead, in 1922, the perc'fT.'jage of parents attending medical inspection of their children was 59 per cent., and it has steadily risen to 76 per cent, in 1930; and In Wolverhampton the attendance Is 91 per cent.”

Other facts revealed In the report are—

“There are now 2GOO maternity and child welfare centres.

“London school nurses last year examined over 1,862,000 children, as against 251,000 in 1911.

“There was approximately 10 per cent, of malnutrition in London schools in 1907. Last year the average was 4.9 per cent. “There has been a revolution in cleanliness and dress.

“School children of the country are better nourished than at any time on record."

The “open air school," the report declares, “is a sensible and even necessary method of healing for a particular type of child. But what is required is more sunlight and open air for every child, sick or well. “All children stand-in need of this universal gift of Nature, and the English people are reaping substantial benefit by living more in the open air."