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68
TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY.
Report for 1915.
A. J. McFarland, M.D. {Dublin), D.P.H. (Oxford),
Tuberculosis Officer.
Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest,
City Road, London, E.C.
14th February, 1916.
To the Medical Officer of Health, Town Hall, Shoreditch.
Sir,
I beg to submit the following Report of the work done in the Tuberculosis
Dispensary:—
During the year 1915 the attendance has been excellent, and the number of
new patients has increased.
New patients numbering 953 were examined at the Dispensary; of these,
623 were "Contacts," the remaining 330 being patients sent to the Dispensary
from various sources for examination and in a great many cases for treatment also.
The new cases comprised 413 males and 540 females, and are divided into
three classes:-TUBERCULOUS, "SUSPECTS," and NON-TUBERCULOUS.
The Tuberculous cases numbered 190, and the age incidence was as follows:—
Children under 14 years, 28 cases; between 14 and 40 years, 120 cases; over 40
years, 42 cases. There were only 5 cases of Surgical Tuberculosis.
The "Suspects" numbered 143, and the age incidence was as follows:—
Children under 14 years, 90 cases; between 14 and 40 years, 43 cases; over
40 years, 10 cases.
The new cases showing no evidence of Tuberculosis numbered 620, and of
these 494 were "Contacts," many of whom only attended once for examination.
The remaining 126 were sent to the Dispensary as they were suffering from
certain symptoms which made it advisable for them to be kept under observation
until a definite diagnosis had been made.
As regards "Suspects" among children under 14 years of age, they almost
all, in addition to cough and malnutrition, showed some enlargement of the
lymphatic glands in the neck; whilst some of them in addition gave a history of
measles, whooping cough or pneumonia in early childhood and on examination