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34
Easter Leavers, 1952.—Admitted in their final term at school: —
Total completing examination and admitted to trial 21
Total positive 10
No. inoculated with BCG 4
No. of controls 7
Follow-up of volunteers was commenced in June and of a total
of 276 under observation, 225 returned for the annual X-ray,
i.e., 81%.
Dr. T. M. Pollock, Physician in charge of B.C.G. Trials has
very kindly contributed the following report:—
During the year the Medical Research Council's Clinical trial
of the anti-tuberculosis vaccine, BCG, has continued in Walthamstow.
This scheme is designed to determine whether the vaccine, at
present used in Britain for nurses and others in contact with the
disease, is of sufficient value for It to be advised for general use.
Those participating in the trial are all volunteers from Secondary
Modern Schools, and over 50,000 young people from North
London, Manchester and Birmingham are taking part. In Walthamstow
the intake of volunteers from the schools began in
November, 1950 and finished in February, 1952. Eight hundred
and sixty-three young people from the Borough are now in the
scheme. Each child had, on entry, a chest X-ray and skin test,
and a proportion were given the vaccine. To determine the efficacy
of the vaccine it is necessary to keep a close watch on all taking
part for the next three years, and this is being done in two main
ways.
The first is by regular visits from Health Visitors. In Walthamstow
each volunteer is visited twice a year by a Health Visitor,
who keeps the child in touch with the scheme and records the
necessary medical details. This work, so essential in this research,
has been carried out by the Health Visitors with enthusiasm and
with painstaking care. It is a pleasure to record how well the work
is being done.
The second way in which volunteers are supervised is by taking
an annual chest X-ray of each, to determine if unsuspected tuberculosis
is present. Tuberculosis is a common disease in young
people, and these annual chest X-rays are thus an important health
safeguard. They are carried out at the West Avenue Welfare
Clinic by mobile mass radiography methods. The sessions are
held in the late afternoon and evening, and the Health Visitors
assist in the work. A very high proportion—85% of the volunteers
to whom appointments have been sent, have taken advantage of
the opportunity to have a chest X-ray. This good response at the
annual re-examination has.been most heartening, and it is a true
indication of the high degree of help and co-operation accorded by
the Borough. We are confident that this response will be maintained
to the end of the trial.