London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Hampstead 1961
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hampstead Borough]
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14
Tuberculosis
Cases of tuberculosis are shown in a separate table
from the other notifiable diseases in the statistical section,
The total number of new cases during 1961 was 70,
as compared with 71 in I960. There has, however, been a
difference in that new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis in men
fell from 45 to 28, whereas in women the number of cases
increased from 16 to 26. Cases of non-respiratory tuberculosis
rose for both sexes, men from 2 to 5 and women from
8 to 11. The marked drop in the number of female cases which
occurred in I960 has therefore not been sustained although at
37 it is still less than the figure for 1959 (38) and previous years.
Taken over a period of years the trend now showing in
the reduction of the number of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis
is fairly satisfactory, but this is not the case with the nonpulmonary
type of case.
The figures for the past ten years are as follows:-
Non-pulmonary Tuberculosis
| Male | Female | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 1953 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 1954 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 1955 | - | 4 | 4 |
| 1956 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
| 1957 | - | 9 | 9 |
| 1958 | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| 1959 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 1960 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 1961 | 5 | 11 | 16 |
With such small numbers it is not possible to form any
firm conclusions. The larger numbers could well be due to
improved ascertainment or improved notification. It is
however somewhat disappointing that for a disease which it is
hoped to eliminate entirely in the foreseeable future, the
notifications should be consistently above those of a decade ago.