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The housing particulars of 7 cases had not been obtained by the end of the
year because of difficulty of access by the Tuberculosis Visitors
Two new notifications came from homes already returning one or more cases
of tuberculosis
In the case of a patient reported in 1963 to be living in a damp house,
improvements were obtained by means of a sanitary notice and the case reported
as overcrowded moved out of the Borough Thus the cases giving concern because
of sanitary conditions at home had been cleared by the end of 1964
Mass X-Ray
During 1964 the mobile Mass X ray unit made short visits to two factories
in the Borough Details are as follows •
Name of factory Number X rayed
Bush Radio Ltd Power Road Chiswick 315
Trico Polberth Ltd Great West Road Brentford 782
Two active cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and one observation case were
found none of these were residents of the Borough In addition one case of
lung cancer was found a Borough resident.
It is now possible to send persons desirous of availing themselves of the
facility to a static Mass X ray Unit at West Middlesex Hospital without an
appointment to have an X-ray of the chest. This is a very valuable addition
to the armaments of preventive medicine and is made use of by many who need
reassurance because of vague suspicions of contact. It is particularly useful
to the Public Health Department for the obtainingof quick reports on candidates
for employment on the Borough Council staff
Over the last three years however it appears that the attendances of
volunteers at this Unit have been falling The hours of attendance were altered
some time ago whereby the Unit closes for an hour in the middle of the day
and is not open on Saturday mornings or evenings It is difficult under these
circumstances therefore for men and women workers to take advantage of the
scheme and they need to be extremely health minded to be willing to overcome
the difficulty by losing time from work Nevertheless the effort is worth
while as tuberculosis is an insidious invader and can be well advanced before
a patient is aware of illness it is also nowadays a disease very easy to cure
in the early stages
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