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Each notification and death has been enquired into. Many of
the former naturally become the latter in a few months, so that the
enquiries into deaths, as a general rule, furnish the most reliable
facts. From these enquiries it appears that 64 cases (out of 215
deaths) were directly infected by relatives, which is 30 per cent.
of the total.
When it is considered that there may be no outward signs of
early phthisis, that it is frequently to the patient's interest to
conceal the disease, and that the greater number of cases go about
for years without medical attendance, or are detected only in the
later stages or at death, this percentage of cases where a definite
history of personal contact was made out must be counted as high
(though somewhat lower than usual). In many of these cases the
history indicated family infection through several generations.
The number of cases with a history of probable infection by persons
not related must always be small, since it is the cause of death
amongst relatives which in the greater number of instances furnishes
the clue to infection, and this clue is generally wanting where
the histories of fellow workmen, lodgers, etc., in past years are
enquired into. But there is abundant evidence to show that
infection may be derived from such sources.
Seven cases in 1905 appear to have derived their disease from the
workshops in which they worked, and 17 were directly or indirectly
affected by alcoholism. The history of the fatal cases shows that
39 suffered for less than six months before death, and 46 between
6 and 12 months, the remainder appear to have suffered for a longer