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As mentioned in last year's report, a considerable proportion of the
male infirmary patients have been inmates of common lodging-houses,
and it has been possible to obtain a good deal of useful information concerning
them. Four of them were considered suitable for sanatorium
treatment and are included in the 13 patients recommended to the London
County Council for sanatorium treatment. It is doubtful whether the
expenditure in sanatorium treatment for those common lodging-house
cases is justifiable. They usually have no dependants and possess no
sense of responsibility. On discharge from sanatorium they disappear
into the unknown and cannot be traced, or probably come to light again
in the infirmary of another district.
During 1924 no newly devised method of treatment was considered
worthy of investigation at the infirmary. Almost every week a
specific cure for tuberculosis is discovered, advertised as such,
usually supported by much Continental testimony, and rapidly fades
into the region of forgotten things. One preparation, patented and
manufactured in London, died very hard. It figured on the boards of the
omnibuses for some years. It was thrust on the medical profession and
on the public by intensive advertising methods and its virtues have been
extolled by the credulous of all classes. It proved to have no specific
value and one cannot help feeling pity for those who could ill afford,
but were deluded into spending money in the confident hope of receiving
the benefits boldly asserted in the advertisements. At the present time
there is no known specific for consumption. When the secret of what
constitutes natural immunity or resistance to tuberculous infection is
discovered, we shall be on the high road towards the cure. Most individuals
at some time in their lives have been infected with tubercle in
varying degrees. In some there is evidence of fairly extensive infection,
but they may live long lives and never show " illness " of a tuberculous
nature. Others, infected less extensively perhaps, may develop tuberculous
disease given some predisposing cause such as over work, anxiety, under
nourishment or the extremely debilitating condition following influenza,
diabetes, &c. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, but the question as
to whether the infection will cause active disease depends upon the natural
resistance of the individual exposed and to a lesser degree on the amount
of the infective agent. From certain observations it would appear that