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It is very probable, however, that this list does not contain
all the deaths from phthisis which occur in Finsbury. Many are
doubtless concealed on the death certificates, and wrongly
entered, as due to pneumonia, bronchitis, chronic bronchitis,
pleurisy, asthma or influenza.
Allotted to districts:—59 deaths from phthisis belonged to
Clerkenwell, 30 to St. Luke's, and one to St. Sepulchre. Of the
whole of the 1,006 deaths in Finsbury in 1923, 8.9 per cent. were
due to phthisis, as against 10.3 per cent. in each of the years
1922 and 1921 respectively. Seventy-four per cent. of the total
deaths due to phthisis took place between 25 and 65 years.
Other Forms of Tuberculosis.—The number of new cases
notified was 45, derived from Clerkenwell 27, St. Luke's 17, and
St. Sepulchre 1 case. The parts chiefly affected were the hip 3,
neck glands 8, knee joint 2, ankle 4, peritoneum 2, wrist joint 2,
pleura 4, Fallopian tubes 2, meninges 2, and spine 7 cases.
Twenty-five patients were bedridden at the time of notification; in these, notification was a very late incident in the disease.
Nine were infants under school age. Five were examples of
"open tuberculosis" associated with external discharges, and
therefore presumably infectious to those brought into contact
with the sufferers. Fourteen were school children. Of the
whole number, 30 were considered to be Finsbury cases by residence and infection, 8 Finsbury cases by infection, and the rest,
7 in number, were not Finsbury cases. Nine of the patients lived
and slept with their families in one room. One of the tenements
was overcrowded. The close contacts in the same families included 102 adults and children over school age, and 74 other
children. The kitchen was used for sleeping purposes in 28
instances. In 8 cases the mother was the chief or only wage
earner. The deaths included 9 from tuberculous meningitis
(Clerkenwell 6, St. Luke's 3, St. Sepulchre 0), and 4(Clerkenwell
3, St. Luke's 1, St. Sepulchre 0) from forms of tuberculosis
other than phthisis.
The Finsbury Death Rate from all forms of tuberculosis in
1923 was 1.33 per 1,000; the corresponding rate for England
and Wales in 1923 was 1.121, and for London in 1923 was 1.16.