View report page

62
Prevention.
The importance of the preventive side of our work is never
lost sight of. Early diagnosis and early treatment of tuberculosis
are vital in the interests of prevention.
Emphasis is made of the importance of mouth sanitation and
nasal hygiene, and this line of defence against infection.
Patients are advised against the prevention of colds, to secure
abundant fresh air, adequate rest, and pasteurised milk. It has
been found that contaminated milk is sometimes the source of
infection. The principles of hygienic discipline are fully explained
to all patients, and the isolation of advanced cases is urged, particularly
where there are children in the home. Again the
importance of separating young children from an active tuberculous
subject in the home is never lost sight of. In fact, it is
now possible to adopt the Grancher System, whereby healthy
children of tuberculous parents are boarded out in the country.
Again, if a patient cannot obtain admission to sanatorium owing
to having no one to look after the children, arrangements are
made for the admission of the children to the Aldersbrook Homes.
Contact Examination.
Special attention continues to be paid to the contacts of
notified cases of tuberculosis, and above all of the infectious type
of case, and every contact case is given the opportunity of being
examined at the Clinic.
From the preventive point of view, however, as emphasised
in the 1929 report, the adolescent type of contact must continue
to command our very special attention, for it is they who are
particularly liable to the virulent type of disease we speak of as
" acute adolescent phthisis." Whilst all the school child contacts
who, incidentally, are also under the School Medical Service, will
be brought very readily for examination to the Clinic, unfortunately
the young girl in her teens, who is subject to the greatest
danger, can often only be got hold of with difficulty. Hence the
appallingly high death rate from pulmonary tuberculosis,
especially in young girls of 15-25.
A complete examination of such contacts will enable us to
diagnose the disease in the early stages when treatment is so
beneficial,