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TUBERCULOSIS.
During the year 217 new cases of tuberculosis were notified as compared with 149
for the previous year. The table below shows the incidence of the disease for the past
few years:-

The number of deaths from all forms was 36, giving a rate of 0.22 per 1,000 of
the population - respiratory (34 deaths) 0.21 and other forms (2 deaths) 0.01. The
rates for England and Wales, and the 160 County Borough and Great Towns for all forms
of tuberculosis were respectively 0.20 and 0.24.
While it is recognised that there has been a more active search for cases of the
disease in recent years it is disappointing that the number of notifications has not yet
shown any tendency to decline in the same way as deaths. Even with the rather wide
fluctuations over individual years there is no indication of any significant improvement
or worsening of the overall position and certainly no evidence of the much looked for
decline in notifications as yet.
Deaths from tuberculosis continue to decline. The accompanying diagram illustrates
the trend of the tuberculosis death rate over the past 20 years. Apart from the war years
it will be seen that the rate has consistently fallen during this period.
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