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Homeless eases not included.
*Estimated population, 1925.
Deaths from Tuberculous Meningitis in Camberwell.
It will be noted from Table XIV that the deaths from tuberculous
meningitis in Camberwell have been decreasing in number
since 1921. The decrease has been steady each year. In 1921
there were 34 deaths from tuberculous meningitis in the Borough,
or 1.3 per ten thousand of the population (Census 1921). In 1925
there were 18 deaths from tuberculous meningitis in the Borough,
or 0.65 per ten thousand of the estimated population of that year.
It is a point of interest that of 18 deaths from tuberculous meningitis
in 1925 in only one case did our investigations or the Notification
Register show any contact infection of human source,
either in the family or in a house shared by more than one family.
It is generally accepted that most cases of tuberculous meningitis
are caused by the human type of tubercle bacillus, and that a
minority, perhaps round about 18 per cent., are caused by the
bovine bacillus. The figures of 1925 are small in number, and no
one would base any definite conclusions on them. The figures of
the last five years, however, give support to the hope that the
sources of infection by tubercle bacilli, which are so destructive
to very young children in the form of generalised tuberculosis,
are less numerous or less virulent in our midst.
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