View report page

Table III. shows the mode of onset of Pulmonary Tuberculosis
as elicited from 166 new patients who attended the Dispensary
during the year. As in 1932, so during the past year, in a surprisingly large percentage the first symptom of the onset of Pulmonary Tuberculosis, as noted by the patient, was an attack of
haemoptysis. The importance of the symptom of blood-spitting,
even in small quantities, has already been stressed in these reports,
and it is highly desirable that due significance should be given to it
both by doctor and patient in order that a thorough investigation
of the cause should be made. In more than half the cases, as is to
be expected, cough was the symptom of which the patient first
complained, and in 14 per cent. the patients dated the onset of the
disease to an attack of "Influenza."