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18
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF TUBERCULOSIS.
I am indebted to Dr. J. C. McMillan for the following section
of the report.
While prevention has, so far, yielded greater dividends than
treatment, treatment has not stood still. Chemo-therapy shows
greater promise than at any time in the past. Surgical technique
also has made good progress in recent years. Unfortunately,
these advances in treatment lead to a longer stay of patients in
Hospitals and Sanatoria, and in consequence the waiting lists for
admission to these institutions are growing rapidly, and as there
are not nearly enough beds provided patients have to wait in their
homes for long periods, often in unsatisfactory conditions-
Many beds are available, but are not in use because of a lack
of nurses. There appears to be some difficulty in getting nurses
to nurse tuberculous patients. This would seem to be due partly
to an unfounded and exaggerated fear of the danger of infection.
Yet the late Medical Superintendent of Cheam Sanatorium,
during his service there for a period of over 20 years, did not have
a single nurse develop the disease. Apparently it is only the very
few who are susceptible that develop tuberculosis, and this can
happen just as easily in other employments. Doctors treating
patients with tuberculosis, and constantly being infected, do not
appear to be more liable to develop tuberculosis.
The community should be informed that, for people who are
properly fed and leading a healthy life, the danger of developing
tuberculosis after exposure to infection is very slight.
Although social conditions were different in 1949, a comparison
with 1922 shows that in 1922, 109 per 100,000 of the
population in Croydon died from all forms of tuberculosis; in 1949
the corresponding figure was 38. The years selected were four
years after a major war.
The total number of new cases of Tuberculosis coming to the
knowledge of the Medical Officer of Health during the year 1949
by notification or otherwise was 305, as compared with 350 in
1948, 354 in 1947, 348 in 1946, and 374 in 1945.
264 of these were cases of Respiratory Tuberculosis; 156 in
males and 108 in females. There were 25 fewer cases in males
and 23 fewer in females than in 1948