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report, vaccination is proceeding against poliomyelitis, and reports
from many parts of the world have been favourable concerning the
value of the vaccines in use. Research efforts are now being directed
to the production of an oral vaccine which, if successful, should prove
of the greatest value in encouraging persons of all ages to avail
themselves of what might be a life-saving measure in the prevention
of this disease.
TUBERCULOSIS:
Two persons died from tuberculosis during 1958. This is the
lowest number of deaths ever recorded. Ten years ago in 1948, 17
persons died. The numbers recorded here are small and do not
convey their full significance, but quoting national figures brings the
full picture to light. Deaths from respiratory tuberculosis (England
and Wales) have fallen to 4,000. Ten years ago the figure was over
19,000. This remarkable achievement has been due in the main to
the development of new drugs, earlier case finding and thus earlier
treatment. However, any complacency engendered by these figures
is rudely shattered when one considers that 7 in every thousand of the
population of England and Wales still suffer from tuberculosis, and
the number of new notifications continues to be high. In Finchley,
29 new cases were notified in 1958—a similar total to 1957. The
continuing high rate of notification is, of course, due to the continuing
efforts of all concerned in the field, the General Practitioners,
Public Health workers and Chest Physicians, aided by modern
methods of case finding and mass radiography. The earlier the case
is discovered, the quicker and more permanent the cure. This is the
ideal to be aimed at and has resulted in a tendency to treat patients
at home after a short period in hospital. The growth of domiciliary
treatment is, of course, reflected in a reduction of the number of
hospital beds with resultant saving to the national economy. It follows
from this that local authorities as housing authorities still have a major
part to play in the provision of suitable housing for the tuberculous,
not alone to further the cure of the patient but to prevent him spreading
the disease to others.
GENERAL:
While the problem of infectious disease appears to be largely
controlled, other problems are still with us and new ones are
appearing.
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