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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 : 56 deaths from phthisis belonged to
Clerkenwell, 32 to St. Luke's, and 0 to St. Sepulchre. Of the whole
of the 1,001 deaths in Finsbury in 1926, 8.8 per cen. were
due to phthisis, as against 10.52 for 1925, 8.7 per cent. for 1924,
and 8.9 per cent. for 1923. Sixty-seven 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 35, derived from Clerkenwell 20, St. Luke's 15, and St.
Sepulchre 0 cases. The parts chiefly affected were the peritoneum
(2), spine (2), glands (10), meninges (2), knee (5), arm (2), hip (2),
abdomen (2) cases.
Five patients were bedridden at the time of notification. In
these, notification was a very late incident in the disease. 14 cases
were infants under school age. 6 were examples of "open tuberculosis"
associated with external discharges, and therefore presumably
infectious to those brought into contact with the sufferers.
9 were school children. Of the whole number, 19 were considered
to be Finsbury cases by residence and infection, 15 Finsbury cases
by infection, and the remaining one was not a Finsbury case.
Three of the tenements was overcrowded. The close contacts in
the same families included 98 adults and children over school age,
and 78 other children. The kitchen was used for sleeping purposes
in 23 instances. In 9 cases the mother was the chief or only wage
earner. The deaths included 2 from tuberculous meningitis
(Clerkenwell 1, St. Luke's 1, St. Sepulchre 0) and 10 (Clerkenwell 7,
St. Luke's 3, St. Sepulchre 0) from forms of tuberculosis other than
phthisis. Altogether 53 primary notifications were received, but
18 of these were duplicates.
The Finsbury death rate from all forms of tuberculosis in 1926
was 1.29 per 1,000 ; the corresponding rate for England and Wales
in 1926 was .961, and for London in 1926, was 1.033.
Tuberculosis Dispensary.—A Tuberculosis Dispensary for
Finsbury residents was established at the Royal Chest Hospital,