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TUBERCULOSIS.
Seventy-six. cases of tuberculosis were notified. This figure
shows an increase of five on the number for the previous year.
There were thirty deaths from tuberculosis in 1944, four less
than in the previous year*
Twenty-six of these were due to pulmonary tuberculosis.
During 1944, fifty-one Wimbledon patients were admitted to
sanatoria or hospitals.
WIMBLEDON INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL.
Two hundred and twenty-one cases were admitted to the Infectious
Diseases Hospital during 1944; as there were thirty-three cases in
hospital at the end of 1943, the total number of cases under treatment
during the year amounted to two hundred and fifty-four. One hundred
and sixty-eight of these cases were from Wimbledon, sixty from
Kingston and twenty-six from other areas, Of the two hundred and
fifty-four patients under treatment, one hundred and thirty-two were
admitted as scarlet fever, thirty-nine as diphtheria, four as cerebrospinal
meningitis, one as paratyphoid fever, twenty-two as dysentery,
seventeen as whooping cough, eleven as measles and twenty-eight as
other diseases.
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Of the thirty-nine cases admitted as diphtheria only twenty-seven
were found to be true clinical cases of this disease. In one of these
cases tracheotomy was performed. This patient made a satisfactory
recovery. In the remaining twelve cases four of the patients gave
persistent positive swabs and were found to be "carriers" only. Of
the other eight cases one was suffering from nasal diphtheria, one
from laryngitis and bronchitis, one from tonsillitis, four from nondiphtheritic
infections of the throat and one from scarlet fever.
One hundred and thirty-two patients were admitted to the hospital
as cases of scarlet fever. Three of these were found after admission
to be suffering from German measles.
In three of the four patients admitted as cases of cerebrospinal
meningitis the diagnosis was not confirmed on bacteriological
investigation.
One patient was admitted to the hospital as a suspected case of
paratyphoid fever. After admission he was found to be suffering
from tuberculous meningitis. This case terminated fatally on the
seventh day.
Two other deaths occurred in the hospital during the year. One
of these was due to whooping cough which was complicated by bronchopneumonia,
and the other to pyaemia from umbilical sepsis.
Sixteen patients remained in hospital at the end of 1944, Four
of these were suffering from scarlet fever, nine from diphtheria, one
from puerperal pyrexia, one from dysentery and one from Vincent's
angina.
During July the Hospital was very extensively damaged as the
result of enemy action. Happily there were no fatal casualties.
Three of the patients and two of the staff received minor injuries
from flying glass.
I should like to take this opportunity of placing on record my
deep appreciation of the excellent manner in which all the members
of the staff have carried out their duties during the trying conditions
prevailing during the war years.
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