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15th year were asked to volunteer and a proportion were given tuberculosis vaccines. By
December 1952, 56,700 children, of whom 200 came from Southall, had joined the scheme.
Since then the participants had been followed by regular X-ray examinations, postal
enquiries and annual home visits. The vast amount of home visiting involved has been
carried out by the health visitors and school nurses of the local health authorities, who have
undertaken the work in addition to their normal duties. The follow-up has been very
successful and over two-thirds of the participants continue to return for the X-ray
examinations, approximately 75% return postal forms and over 90% have a home visit.
The present addresses of over 99% are known.
Continuation of the Investigation:
The first report included results up to four years. Until the scheme has continued
for a further period it will not be possible to say for how long the protection given by each
vaccine will last, and whether those protected from tuberculosis in the first few years after
vaccination will remain protected in later life. Until more is known of the duration of
protection given by the vaccine it is also not possible to decide definitely the most suitable
age at which it should be given.
Provided the scheme can be successfully continued it is probable that information of
great value to the future control of tuberculosis, both as regards vaccination and also many
other aspects of tuberculosis as a public health problem, will be obtained. This depends
on the continuation of support by the many local authorities concerned.
Research into Incidence of New Tuberculosis in the Adolescent
In order to ascertain the amount of tuberculosis which occurs in young people leaving
school and starting work in industry or offices and so subject to the strains of new conditions,
the Mass X-ray Unit 5A staff has been carrying out a programme of research (as described
in the Annual Report of 1953) in which school leavers were asked to submit to X-ray
examination annually in order that they could be kept under observation. No figures were
available at the time of printing the Annual Report for 1955, but it is now known that 585
adolescents were X-rayed during that year, a percentage of 47 of the total invited; during
1956 759 adolescents were X-rayed, a response of 38% of the total invited. No active
cases were found amongst ex-school leavers.
Graph B is a pictorial representation of the statistics of tuberculosis in the Borough
from 1930 to 1956.
Visit of Mass X-Ray Unit
The Mass X-ray Unit Number 5A came to Southall on 15th October and spent nearly
six weeks in the Borough. During the first and last weeks of the visit the Unit was
stationed in the grounds beside the Public Health Department, a convenient centre for public
sessions. The Unit now being fully mobile, the weeks between were spent in various
industrial centres in the Borough. In all 11,298 persons were X-rayed during this visit,
6,224 (2,693 male and 3,531 female) of whom were Southall residents. 181 (123 male and
58 female) were recalled for further investigation because of doubtful shadows on their
miniature X-ray pictures, five of these failed to attend, and the result was that 140 were
discharged as satisfactory, and 36 were referred to the Chest Clinic. Four Southall residents
were found to be suffering from active pulmonary tuberculosis, three male, one female,
5 persons resident in neighbouring districts were discovered to have active tuberculosis,
four had lung tumours of a malignant nature. Earlier in the year the Unit had visited
St. Bernard's Hospital where 1,771 patients and 291 staff were X-rayed, a total of 2,062,
out of whom 5 cases of active pulmonary tuberculosis were discovered and 10 other conditions
of which one was cancerous. The figure for new cases of positive tuberculosis discovered
is 0.8 per thousand over the whole investigation, and 0.64 per 1,000 of Southall
residents,
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