London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Deptford 1949
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Deptford Borough]
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| Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | Total | M | F | Total | |
| Cases notified for the first time | 109 | 80 | 189 | 8 | 11 | 19 |
| New cases in Borough coming to knowledge otherwise than by notification | 17 | 13 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Cases on Tuberculosis Register at 31.12.49 | 455 | 331 | 786 | 64 | 87 | 151 |
The following is a Report from the Chest Physician, Dr. J. P. V. Rigby:—
Deptford Tuberculosis Statistics for 1949
During 1949 the number of cases which came on to the Deptford Chest
Clinic Register were 215 new cases, 43 inward transfers and 25 cases
"lost-sight-of-returned," making a total of 283 cases. Of this total,
16 new cases, 7 inward transfers and 6 "lost-sight-of-returned" were
non-respiratory cases. Of the 215 cases diagnosed as tuberculous for the
first time, 199 were respiratory, and of these 67 were sputum positive and
therefore infectious shortly after the first examination.
Forty-six cases on the Chest Clinic Register died during 1949, of which
3 were non-respiratory. One of the respiratory cases is understood to have
died primarily for reasons other than those of tuberculosis. Eighty-three
tuberculous families were transferred out of the Borough, presumably to be
re-housed elsewhere, but in spite of this, there was an increase of 113 net in
the Chest Clinic Register, after allowing for deaths and transfers elsewhere.
This will give some idea of the local problem of tuberculosis in Deptford.
It is interesting to note that 43 tuberculous families were re-housed in
Deptford during 1949, either by the local authority or by their own
initiative. It appears that 13 of these families were re-housed in Deptford
by the local authority, and it would seem regrettable that cases of pulmonary
tuberculosis should be re-housed by the local authority into such
a congested area.
Following is a table showing the number of new cases diagnosed over
the last five years, and also the number of deaths from tuberculosis. It
will be seen that there has been a considerable increase in the number of
new cases diagnosed in 1949 compared with the previous four years,
though there is little change in the number of deaths over the same period.
New Cases
Deaths
Resp.
Non-Resp.
Total
Resp.
Non-Resp.
Total
1949 199 16 215 43 3 46
1948 75 12 87 36 2 38
1947 100 10 110 43 3 46
1946 98 12 110 36 5 41
1945 82 11 93 40 4 44