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17
Of the 48 deaths, 24 were of males and 24 of females. Prior to
their attack of illness their employment was:—
Males.
Labourer 5
Laundryman 3
Clerk 2
Mechanical Engineer 2
Plasterer 2
Painter 2
Engine Driver 1
Lift Attendant 1
Dairyman 1
Sword Patentee 1
Railway Guard 1
Carman 1
Messenger 1
No Occupation 1
Females
Household 11
Laundress 4
Teacher 2
Nurse 2
Domestic Service 1
No Occupation 4
Out of the 48 deaths from Phthisis, 19 occurred in Public Institutions.
This is a high percentage, but it is doubtful if this is due to
a full appreciation of the danger during the last four or five weeks of
the illness. Twelve of the deaths occurred at Isleworth Infirmary and
3 at Wandsworth Asylum. Although there are numbers of special
hospitals and Sanatoria for tubercular patients, with the exception of
the Workhouse Infirmary, there are no institutions for advanced cases.
Early cases, where any traces of the Bacilli occur in the sputum, are
dangerous, but the danger from them is trifling compared to that from
the advanced and fatal cases. The last 4 or 5 weeks are the most
deadly in the spread of the infection.
It is a difficult matter in Phthisis to ascertain the source of infection
although inquiries were made into all the deaths that occurred in
the district. All that can be said as to the source in any case is, that
the exposure of a patient to a particular source of infection has been
more frequent or prolonged, or that the infection is more actively disseminated
in one case than in another, and that, therefore, that cause
is the principal one.