London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Harrow 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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88
for the first time during the year combined with those of people who
came to the district already suffering from the disease. The figures from
1955 onwards were 287, 264, 214, and 199; for last year it was 181.
The following table gives the age and sex distribution both of the
persons resident in the district which were learned of for the first time to be
suffering from tuberculosis, and of those who moved into the district
already suffering from the disease.:—
| Primary Notification | Brought to notice other than on Form "A" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | Pulmonary | Non-Pulmonary | |||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| Under 1 | ||||||||
| 1-4 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 5-9 | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | _ | — |
| 10-14 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | — |
| 15-19 | 5 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 20-24 | 4 | 8 | — | 1 | 3 | 13 | — | — |
| 25-34 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 21 | — | — |
| 35-44 | 12 | 5 | — | 3 | 6 | 11 | — | — |
| 45-54 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | — | — |
| 55-64 | 7 | 6 | — | — | 3 | — | — | — |
| 65 and over | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | — | — |
| Totals | 50 | 41 | 4 | 7 | 28 | 50 | 1 | — |
A history of close contact with someone suffering from pulmonary
tuberculosis, usually a member of a household, was obtained in 27 per
cent of the male cases notified for the first time during the year and twentyfive
per cent of the women.
There are some occupations on which those engaged are especially
prone to contract the infection. There were five instances of this this last
year.
There was no history of any of those illnesses or other states which
predispose to the onset of tuberculosis, except that two of the women
notified were pregnant when the disease was first recognised.
There were four instances of a relapse in those who had suffered some
years before and who had apparently recovered.
In the remaining cases, and these formed the majority, no reason
could be found for the breakdown in resistance which allowed the organism
to gain the upper hand.
Register
The tuberculosis register is a compilation of the names of those
persons in the district who are suffering from the disease or have recently
suffered from it. The names of those newly notified are added to it,
and entries are made of those persons who have moved into the district
suffering from tuberculosis. Names are deleted on the removal of persons