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 1960
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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There was only one instance this year of a relapse in a person who had
suffered some years before and who had apparently recovered.
In the remaining cases, and these formed the majority, no reason
could be discovered 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 from the district or on death or recovery, an accepted standard
of recovery being a lapse of five years in the pulmonary cases and three
years in non-pulmonary cases from the date the disease was arrested.
The following is a summary of the changes which have taken place in the register during the year:—
| Pulmonary | Non-pulmonary | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| No. on register, 1st January, 1960 | 1,282 | 1,021 | 127 | 141 |
| No. of new cases added (primary notification) | 67 | 30 | 1 | 9 |
| No. of cases other than primary notifications | 40 | 26 | 2 | 1 |
| No. of cases restored to Register | 3 | 3 | — | — |
| No. of cases removed | 129 | 80 | 6 | 5 |
| No. on register, 31st December, 1960 | 1,263 | 1,000 | 124 | 146 |
Of the 220 deductions, ninety-five (ninety-three pulmonary) were of
persons who had left the district, thirty-one (twenty-eight pulmonary)
were of persons who had died, eighty-two (seventy-six pulmonary) were
of persons who had recovered and nine (all pulmonary) were of persons
who had been lost sight of.
The net decrease in the number of cases on the register is thirty-eight,
there being forty fewer pulmonary cases but two more non-pulmonary
cases.
This is the fourth year it has been possible to record a fall. As contrasted
with that of the three previous years though, in which there had
been a fall not only in the numbers for each sex but also for both types of
disease, this year, while there has been the marked fall in the pulmonary
cases and a small decline in the number of males suffering from nonpulmonary
disease, there has been an increase of five in the numbers of
emales suffering from the non-pulmonary disease.
Deaths. This infection caused the deaths of twelve local residents
this last year, ten (six men and four women) from pulmonary disease, and
wo men trom a non-pulmonary lesion. This is a set-back in the decline
in the number of deaths from tuberculosis which has occurred in the last
few years. The figure, though a sharp rise on the six of the previous year,
is still a marked contrast to that of ninety-seven in 1944 and even the
ntty-seven of 1949.