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Regulations, 1908. These Regulations, which were issued by the
Local Government Board on December 18th, 1908, and came in
force on January 1st, 1909, provide for the compulsory notification
to the Medical Officer of Health of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis,
or consumption, occurring in Poor Law patients. The Regulations
apply to patients receiving out-door relief as well as to those treated
in institutions, and the obligation to notify is laid upon the district
medical officers and upon the medical officers of Poor Law institutions.
Relieving officers are also called upon to notify changes of
address in patients who have been notified by the Poor Law
doctors, and the superintendent officers of Poor Law institutions
must notify the discharge of a notified consumptive patient from the
institution and the address to which the patient is going. These
Regulations have made a considerable increase in the number of
cases notified. During the first three months of 1909, the total
number of new cases notified was 28, as against 29 in the whole of
the previous year.
The Regulations give wide powers to local authorities to adopt
measures for the prevention of the disease. These powers are set
out in Article IX of the Regulations and are expressed as follows:—
"A Council, on the advice of their Medical Officer of Health, in
the case of a poor person in relation to whom a notification in
pursuance of these Regulations has been posted to the Medical
Officer of Health, may, for tbe purpose of preventing the spread of
infection from Pulmonary Tuberculosis—
(i.) Take all such measures, or do all such things as are authorised,
in any case of infectious disease, or of dangerous infectious
disease, by any enactment relating to public health,
and as have reference to the destruction and disinfection of
infected articles, or the cleansing or disinfecting of premises;
(ii.) Take all such measures or do all such things as are appropriate
and necessary for the safe disposal or destruction of
infectious material, produced and discharged, as a result of
Pulmonary Tuberculosis; and otherwise for the prevention
of the spread of infection from any such material;
(iii.) Afford or supply all such assistance, facilities, or articles as,
within such reasonable limits as the circumstances of the
case require and allow, will obviate, or remove, or diminish
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