View report page

17
TUBERCULOSIS
There has again been a welcome decline in the number of deaths from tuberculosis; it is now less
than a third of before the war. This satisfactory result is probably due to improved methods of diagnosis
and treatment; more patients are now detected in the early stages when they are most amenable to simple
methods of treatment such as rest, control of cough, better diet and chemotherapy. The number of new
cases has remained about the same for the past three years and is higher than in the years before the war;
also, the total number of cases on the register has increased.

The diagnosis of tuberculosis today is no longer a death sentence. This is most heartening, for an
early diagnosis provides an almost certain guarantee of cure, and what is equally important, steps can be
taken to prevent the spread of infection to relatives and friends. While an early diagnosis of tuberculosis
cannot exactly be welcome, at least it need not be faced with the same dread as in previous years : indeed,
one can be thankful that the disease has been discovered before it has caused irremediable damage.
Nevertheless, tuberculosis still remains the most important infectious disease in the borough : five
people are struck down every week and do not recover for months or even years, and at least one is
killed every fortnight. More than half the deaths are people under 55 years, and the majority of patients
are still under 45, at the vital period when they are trying to establish themselves in the industrial and
commercial world and in the general social life of the community.