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23
VENEREAL DISEASES.
In the last Annual Report the fact that the Centre for the Treatment of Venereal
Diseases required reorganisation and extensions was commented upon. Progress has
been made in this direction, and a full scheme with estimates has been submitted to
the Sanitary Committee. The matter is at present the subject of conference between
the Ministry of Health and the Committee.
I also referred last year to the increased contribution to. the Hospital Authorities,
and during the year under review the cost of the Centre was £2,925, as compared with
£2,100 in the previous year.
At the beginning of the year 933 males and 324 females were registered on the
books as receiving treatment, which compares with 273 males and 123 females in the
previous year.
Of these patients 367 males and 145 females were under treatment for Syphilis,
and 526 males and 168 females for Gonorrhoea. New patients admitted during the
year totalled 1,053, as compared with 861 previously. The ailments from which these
new patients suffered were as under:—
Syphilis.
Gonorrhœa.
Soft Chancre.
Conditions other
than Venereal.
Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female.
298 129 469 199 ... ... 32 6
I have already directed attention to the difficulty which is observed in the treatment
of cases of Syphilis, that patients do not continue sufficiently long under treatment to
ensure that the disease is certainly cured. 91 men and 20 women discharged
themselves before completing the course of treatment, and 95 men and 29 women
completed the treatment, but ceased attendance before final tests were applied.
The total number of attendances at the Clinic was 21,689, which total is
made up as follows :—
Syphilis.
Soft Chancre.
Gonorrhoea.
Non-Venereal
Conditions.
Total attendances.
Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female. Male. Female.
6,556 3,864 ... ... 8,882 2,349 32 6 15,470 6,219
A few beds are provided at the Institution for in-patiept treatment, and the
number of days of such treatment totalled 416.
In the laboratories associated with the Institution 6,005 specimens were examined.
Of these 4,307 were examined at the Centre and 1,688 at an approved laboratory.
76 examinations were made for Spirochetes and 2,697 for Gonococci. 3,172
examinations for the Wassermann reaction were undertaken.
As regards the places of residence of patients coming under treatment, it is
reported that patients resided in the following Counties :—
London 979
Essex 25
Hertfordshire 14
Middlesex 12
Surrey 11
Kent 5
Hampshire 4
Buckinghamshire 3
The substitutes for salvarsan used, the number of doses of salvarsan substitutes
which constitute a course, the nature of the tests applied in deciding as to the discharge
of the patient are set out in the attached table.