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93
It is estimated that 62 cases of the 257 new cases were cases
of adolescent phthisis, i.e. at least one in every five occurred
between the 15—25 years period. It is a well known fact that
(1) cases occurring at this age of life have a poorer prognosis;
(2) many of them occur as a result of contact with other cases
of pulmonary tuberculosis in the home. The greatest significance
is placed upon the need for the examination of every adolescent
person who has been in contact with a case of pulmonary
tuberculosis whose sputum is positive. Most unfortunately,
whilst child contacts in whom the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis
is a small one, and who, like all school children, are under the
preventive supervision of the School Medical Service, attend the
Clinic for examination in large numbers, great difficulty is often
experienced in getting the adolescent contact to attend for a preventive
examination. Parents, who themselves are often keen on
these adolescents being examined, frequently state that they cannot
get them to attend for examination, because they are well and
see no reason for such precaution. On many occasions it has
been observed subsequently that pulmonary tuberculosis has
developed in such adolescents in a very acute form. They have
been obliged to attend the Clinic on account of symptoms, and
advanced disease has not infrequently been detected. It would
have been easier to have seen these people before the onset of
disease, and to have urged the valuable preventive measures to
be adopted. Our visiting Sisters are aware of this important
problem of the development of phthisis in the adolescent contact,
and every effort is made to get these contacts to attend the Clinic.