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45
importance of teaching hygiene in school life as an aid in the
fight against tuberculosis is dealt with in the report on Medical
Inspection of Schools. It is more urgently necessary that
instruction should be given to those more directly exposed to
tuberculous infection, and the value of notification is especially
evident in this direction. The Council adopted the principle
of voluntary notification in June 1903, the sum of 2s. 6d. being
paid for each case notified. The results of voluntary notification
in Acton have always been disappointing, and only 13
voluntary notifications were received during the year, eight of
these being from chest hospitals. In addition in five children
inspected in the schools, symptoms of Pulmonary Tuberculosis
were detected. Under the Public Health Tuberculosis Regulations
of 1908, 52 persons were notified as suffering from
consumption. Twenty-one cases were notified from the Isleworth
Infirmary, and 17 deaths occurred in Public Institutions.
The vastly increased treatment of advanced cases of
Pulmonary Tuberculosis in infirmaries and other institutions
has been most valuable in securing segregation of patients
from their families, as well as securing humane treatment
for the patients themselves. It is during the last four or five
weeks of the illness that the danger of infection is greatest.
The segregation which occurs under Poor Law Administration
and special hospitals has the effect of removing the source of
infection at a time when such infection is greatest. It also
increases the resources of the family at home.
One of the chief obstacles, though, in dealing with
Pulmonary Tuberculosis is the difficulty of obtaining information
of the early cases. This difficulty is apparent not only in
the notification of the disease, but also in the selection of
cases for Sanatorium treatment. It is too early to deal with
the result of the treatment in 1908 and 1909, but it seems as if
an earlier class of cases now apply for admission into the
Sanatorium. In 1905 the Council entered into an agreement
whereby it maintained three beds at the Northwood