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Tuberculosis.
The rates per thousand population for new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis
for the last six years have been :—
1948—2.34; 1949—2.39; 1950—2.07; 1951—1.87; 1952—2.16; 1953—2.34.
546 new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were added to the Register during
the year, as against 518 in 1952. Whilst the dramatic fall in the death rate from
this cause (recorded on page 11) is gratifying, the fact that there is no room for
complacency with regard to tuberculosis is demonstrated by the failure of any
decrease in the number of new cases. There is, if anything, a tendency for the
new cases to increase ; it is difficult to say how many of the new cases would have
been discovered and notified during the year without the continued presence of
the Mass X-Ray Unit of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.
No doubt some cases would have come to light, but possibly at a later stage when
the disease was more fully developed. The value of Mass X-Ray examination lies,
as mentioned in last year's Report, in the probable diminution of the no doubt
very considerable reservoir of unknown cases who contribute to the transmission
of the disease to others. The combined effect of the increased discovery of cases
and the reduction in the death rate, indicating that patients with tuberculosis are
living longer, means that the total pool of tuberculous people in the Borough has
increased and this is shown in the continued increase in the number of cases of
tuberculosis registered in the Department, and on the registers of the Chest Clinic.
Of the 207 new cases of tuberculosis of the lungs in women, 124 were between
the ages of 15 and 35 ; probably the most difficult and disheartening age-group in
which this illness can be contracted. Of the 339 new cases of lung tuberculosis
in men, 49 were aged 15 to 25, and 75 aged 25 to 35 ; again extremely serious
from the point of view of career, family responsibility and earning capacity.