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35
In 535 cases information was obtained as to the number of rooms occupied by consumptive
persons and their families and is summarised in the two following tables :—

The figures show that more than half the cases notified occupied tenements containing less
than three rooms. The inquiries made also elicited the fact that in no less than 194 instances the
consumptive patient occupied a one or two room tenement, with more than one, and in certain
cases with more than four, other presumably healthy persons.
Rooms in Tenement.
Persons in Tenement,
including Patient
Number of Cases.
One Room
Three persons 17
Four persons. 1]
Five persons. 6
More than five persons 1
Two Rooms
Three persons 27
Four persons 46
Five persons 27
More than five persons 59
Fortunately the natural resistance of the tissues to the invasion of tuberculosis is not easily
overcome: otherwise we could calculate from the figures in this table that more than 600 persons
are known to have lived with consumptive patients in tenements so small and crowded as to render
their ultimate death from consumption a matter of certainty.
That case to case infection under such conditions plays an important part in spreading
consumption may be gathered from the histories of the patients visited. In 218 instances the
patients had undoubtedly become infected by contact at home with one or more consumptive
relatives. Three patients gave a history of intimate contact with a consumptive friend, and two
persons appear to have been infected by a fellow lodger. In seven cases there was reason to
believe that the infection had been acquired from contact with a consumptive fellow-worker, whilst
nine further cases of phthisis were reported in the families of the patients visited.
The occupation or status of the persons who died from consumption during the year was as
follows:—