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REPORT OF CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN
CAMBERWELL CHEST CLINIC
The year 1959 was quite a healthy one in Camberwell
from the point of view of chest illnesses, chiefly because
there was no serious influenza epidemic and the weather
during the winter months was mild. In consequence, the
exacerbations of symptoms in patients who had chronic
bronchitis were neither very marked nor very frequent.
During the year 17,270 units of X-ray work were
carried out and there were 15,168 attendances. X-ray
examinations of new cases numbered 8,184 and as a result,
1,912 new patients had a full clinical examination. The
cases on the tuberculosis register showed a further decline
from 1,698 to 1,190. One hundred and sixty-two new cases
were added to the register and this figure includes 17
non-pulmonary cases. The notifications were greatest
for men in the 45-65 group (53 cases), and among women
there were 27 cases in the age group 15-35. There were
12 deaths due to pulmonary tuberculosis, 10 being among
men over 45, and only 1 female death. The total number
of deaths - fourteen - is the lowest recorded and gives a
death rate of 0.08 per 1,000 population.
Although these figures are encouraging, it is unfortunate
that tuberculosis has not yet been eradicated
in this country. Many factors are responsible for this
unhappy state of affairs - public apathy, absence of an
intense case-finding programme for the whole country, poor
response to propaganda about B.C.G. vaccination and, more
particularly, the absence in London of adequate Public
Health laws under which an unco-operative infectious
patient can be detained in hospital. In Camberwell there
are at least five such patients who are a public danger.
Propaganda about B.C.G. vaccination is given to all
mothers who attend for routine ante-natal chest X-rays
and 677 babies born in the maternity department of St.
Giles' Hospital were vaccinated during the year. In
addition a large number of children who are either
contacts or were not vaccinated by the school B.C.G.
teams, attended for vaccination.
Once again this department was asked to co-operate
in a therapeutic trial of various antibiotics for patients
who had severe disabling chronic bronchitis. It will be