Document RpyKGd8Jq280wKO4zNYJ2OLBB

~CC- Baltimore City Health Department Wk,, 33 - c WEEKLY LETTER TO THE MAYOR In his WEEKLY LETTER TO THE MAYOR dated August 20,. 1971, the Commissioner of Health wrote; Dear Mayor; The City Health Department's Bureau of School Hygiene has completed a statistical study of hearing and vision screening tests conducted by Health Department personnel in the city's public and parochial elementary schools during the school year September 1970 to June 1971, Hearing Tests Hearing tests are conducted routinely on all children enrolled in kindergarten, 1st and 4th grades, children new to the school system, and those children referred by teachers; also tested were' children in Special Education, Early Admissions, Followthrough, and the Model Early Learning Project, the latter three chiefly concerned with children three to four years old = The total number of children receiving hearing tests was 48,987= Of these 4,006 or 8C1 per cent failed the test and were referred either to City Health Department hearing clinics, to hearing clinics at the Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland hospitals or to private physicians- The defect most commonly found was hearing loss due to ear. infections, infections of the tonsils and adenoids or impacted cerumenc Vision Tests Vision tests are administered to every child enrolled in kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 10th grades and to children in the special projects mentioned above- The number of children screened was 69,709= Of these, 5,149 or 7=3 per cent failed the test. Major eye defects found were near-sightedness, astigmatism, and muscle imbalance causing cross-eyedness, According to Dr= John B= Saratsiotis, Director of the Bureau of School Hygiene, many cases of hearing loss can be prevented if parents see to it that their children's ear infections and impacted cerumen are diagnosed and treated early by a physician. Insofar as eye defects are concerned, parent's should be alert to eye troubles, especially cross-eyes, and have them corrected as early as possible= Crosseyes left untreated causes lazy-eye blindness. Three to four are the critical years for the detection and treatment of cross-eyes= Detection at a later age may he too late to correct the damage to vision that has.been done. Very truly yours. (Signed) Robert E5 Farber, M,De BALTIMORE CITY HEALTH DEPARTMENT STATISTICAL REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING AUGUST 19, 1971 WK. 33 BIRTHS Total recorded Residents only DEATHS Total recorded Residents only INFANT DEATHS Total recorded Residents only BIRTHS Total recorded Residents only DEATHS Total recorded Residents only INFANT DEATHS Total recorded Residents only WEEKLY SUMMARY OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND INFANT MORTALITY Week Ending August 1.9, 1971 TOTAL WHITE NONWHITE Week End ing August 20, 1970 . TOTAL WHITE NONWHITE NUMBER 410 319 212 123 198 196 - 410 277 241 11? 169 : 160 214 i?3 136 102 78 205 131 71 180 - 107 74 73 83 73 53 4- .2 01 14.066 9,639 8,025 6,-487 334 261 CUMULATIVE NUMBER FOR YEAR TO DATE 7,892 3,866 6,174 5.773 14,762 9.. 961 8, 631 4. 243 5,367 3963 2,656 2,524 8. 499 6,876 5 735 4.238 149 86 185 175 377 262 190 89 6,131 5,718 2.764 2,638 187 r-'3. BIRTHS DEATHS INFANT MORTALITY 16.9 11.3 27.1 RESIDENT RATES* FOR YEAR TO DATE 12.8 13.1 22.2 21.5 9.4 30.3 17.3 11.9 26.3 13.7. 13.7 21.0 21.6 9,9 30.3 *B I RTH- AND. DEATH RATES PER t,000 POPULATION! INFANT MORTALITY RATE PER 1,000 LIVE BIRTHSi ALL RATES COMPUTED ON AN ANNUAL BASIS LIA-76089 WEEKLY STATISTICAL REPORT CASES OF REPORTABLE DISEASES, NON-RESIDENTS EXCLUDED WEEK ENDING August 19, 971' DISEASE Tuberculosis, active. .................................. . Syphilis, primary and secondary..... Gonococcal infections..................................... Infectious hepatitis.................................. Meningococcal infections............................. Meningitis, other............................................... Encephalitis, infectious.......................... Meas les ............................. .................................... .. German measles....................................................... Mumps................................................. ........................... Chickenpox. . . ................... .. Diphtheria.. ...................... .. ................................ Whooping cough...................................................... Streptococcal infections.......................... Poliomyelitis (paralytic cases)........... Typhoid fever............. ............................................ Salmonellosis. . ........................ ............................ Dysentery................................................................... Diarrhea and enteritis.......................... Lead poisoning.................................................... . Inf luenza. ................................................. .. Other reportable diseases.................. CASES CURRENT WEEK 5 3 282 3 .0 2 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 O 0 0 8 6 0 0 .0 20 7 YEAR RANGE* HIGH 22 10 208 ` 17 2 15 9 II 2 12 4 0 3 4 0 0 18 9 1 2 0 - LOW .9; I 51 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 0 - . YEAR TO DATE CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF CASES 1971 1970 289 220 6,953 200 13 33 1 15 45 283 263 0 7 182 0 0 312 411 5 9 2 802 315 181 6 918 184 69 2 722 189 S58 419 0 7 76 0 I 238 5S 8 22 5 89 3 MORTALITY BY MAJOR CAUSES, NON-RESIDENTS EXCLUDED CAUSE OF DEATH All Causes............................................................... Diseases of the heart................ .. .............. Cancer, all forms............................................ Cerebral hemorrhage....................................... Diseases of the arteries and veins. Influenza and pneumonia................. .... Diabetes............................... .. .............................. .. Cirrhosis of liver......................................... Tuberculosis (all forms)..................... .. Nephritis.................. .............................. ............... Puerperal causes...................................... Malformations and diseases of early infancy................ ......................... Suicides................ .............................. .................... Homicides................... ......................... .................... Accidents Home. ............................ . . ............................. Industrial ......................................... .. Automobile. . . ......................................... .. Other public.......................... ................... Other external causes................................. Other specified causes............................... CURRENT WEEK TOTAL 173 64 29 10 7 i 4 5 4 3 0 4 2 6 2 0 1 0 1 30 7 YEAR RANGE* HIGH 199 74 43 16 10 10 9 6 3 3 1 LOW 177 55 29 9 3 1 2 3 0 0 0 18 2 50 91 50 10 40 3X - - YEAR TO DATE CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF DEATHS 1971 6.487 1970 6,8-76 2.423 1 178 457 .190 138 196 209 49 25 3 2 70S 1,233 452 221 161 . -2.38 208 56 35 4 205 51 185 195 60 145 76 90 23 17 LIA-76090 929 826 THE H1SH AND LOW F!BURES SHOWN :ARE DERIVED FROM THE HUMBER OF CASES AND DEATHS FOR THE COMPARABLE WEEK FOR THE PERIOD.'=64- 370