London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Greenwich 1949

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough]

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70
TUBERCULOSIS REPORT 1949
I am indebted to Dr. C. W. L. Jeanes, Chest Physician, for the
following report on Tuberculosis in the Borough:—
" During the year 272 new cases of tuberculosis of all types were
notified, including 131 cases transferred from other districts.

Notifications and deaths since 1938 are shown in the following tables:—

Year.Pulmonary Tuberculosis.Non-Pulmonary Tuberculosis.Deaths.
19381533853
1939931460
19401251773
19411383274
19421641864
19431172660
19441131647
19451491653
19461731856
19471711367
19481121762
19491171053

Of the 127 cases notified primarily, 121 came under the care
of the Dispensary, and were made up as follows :—
Pulmonary Tuberculosis Non-Pulmonary
Adults Children Adults Children
93 19 8 1
Only 43 of the 93 new adult cases had positive sputum on
diagnosis. In most cases this meant that the disease was not
infectious on diagnosis.
Against this, however, must be recorded the fact that the
waiting time for admission to Hospital and Sanatorium is now often
as long as 1 year. During this time, unfortunately, the early case
may well become advanced before admission to Hospital, with the
possible risk of infecting others in the same family.
To counteract this, a scheme of domiciliary treatment has been
worked out by the Chest Physician. In suitable cases collapse
therapy is started in the patient's home, and where indicated the
new tuberculostatic drugs—Streptomycin, Para-amino-salicylic acid
and Thioparamizone—are administered.
In 1949, 21 Pneumoperitoneums and 7 Artificial Pneumothoraces
were successfully induced at home. In most of these cases
the patients' disease was rendered quiescent by the treatment before