View report page

8
Of the two polio-encephalitis cases, one a married woman of
32 years had a very severe attack, which proved fatal within a few
days. The other, a young man of 18 years, also had a very severe
attack, but recovered after a very prolonged illness, and still has
extensive paralysis of both legs.
Tuberculosis.
95 new cases of tuberculosis were brought to the notice
of the Health Department during the year, 86 pulmonary and
9 non-pulmonary. These numbers include 18 transfers from other
districts, and show an increase of 21 over the previous year when
there were 74 new cases, 65 pulmonary and 9 non-pulmonary.
There were 19 deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis: 10 male and
9 female, but no deaths from non-pulmonary tuberculosis. The
death rate from tuberculosis was 0.36 per 1,000 of population as
compared with 0.49 for the previous year.
From the information given in Table V, it will be seen that the
heaviest incidence of new cases of Tuberculosis was in the age group
from fifteen to forty-five, and among females, was again particularly
high, between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five.
Tuberculosis remains one of the most serious problems with
which a community like Wood Green has to deal. An endemic
disease, its prevalence and spread are very closely bound up with
factors such as the provision of adequate food and good environmental
conditions. So far as treatment is concerned, its success depends
very largely on early diagnosis, and with the increasing availability
of Mass Radiography, early diagnosis should become more common
than it has been. On the other hand, under present circumstances,
with a considerable apparent shortage of sanatorium beds, there is
no guarantee that early diagnosis will be followed by early treatment,
and far too many cases of active tuberculosis have to remain
weeks and even months before they can be admitted to hospital or
sanatorium. With housing conditions as they are at present, the
prevention of the spread of the disease in infected households is
extremely difficult and in some cases, quite impossible. Under the
Council's housing points scheme, it is the practice to give extra
points in individual housing applications for health reasons, and
advantage has always been taken of this provision, in the case of
families comprising one or more cases of tuberculosis. This provision
has been instrumental in enabling several families of this type