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BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK.
Southwark Tuberculosis Dispensary,
82-84, Newington Causeway, S.E.
To the. Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Borough of Southwark.
Sir and Gentlemen,
During the year 1922 the dispensary has been continuously busy
and the results have been very satisfactory, the death-rate from pulmonary
tuberculosis having diminished when compared with the previous
year, in spite of an epidemic of influenza, which is always followed by
an increase in the number of cases of tuberculosis. The new cases
notified were slightly in excess of the previous year, but this denotes
that they are being brought to light in greater numbers and that the
practitioners are more particular as to notification rather than that there
is any actual increase in the disease.

The above result may be largely attributed to the detection of early
cases, the advice and instruction given by the staff of the dispensary as
to the avoidance of infection and disposal of sputum, the disinfection aud
stripping of infected rooms and the improvements effected by the visiting
staff in the homes of the patients. The preventive side of the work in
checking the spread of infection is more important than the curative, for
taking the general length of the phthisical patient's life as five or six
years, any case prevented in any given year means a lower death-rate
five years later, thus a steady decline in the death-rate would naturally
follow. With preventive measures we may also class sanatorium treatment,
for though a short residence in sanatorium may mean a temporary