View report page

Child contacts are tuberculin tested; those found to be Mantoux negative are offered
B.C.G. vaccination and placed under continued surveillance; those Mantoux positive are X-rayed,
and certain cases placed under surveillance for as long as is advisable.
Special clinic sessions are held for contact cases, and during the past year 916
contacts were examined as a result of 226 new cases, giving an average nuirfber of 4.05 contacts
examined per notified case.
As a further step in the campaign of prevention, the Tuberculosis Health Visitors are
informed of all deaths from tuberculosis and in those instances where the case has notl been
notified during life, a home visit is paid as in the ordinary notified case to ascertain the
contacts. The routine procedure for these, given above, is then put in hand.
(c) Mass Miniature Radiography.
No general public survey was carried out by the Mass Radiography Unit attached to the
North-East Regional Hospital Board covering this area, during the year. Surveys of special
groups were, however, continued and in this connection six visits were made by the Unit to
industrial premises within the Borough during the course of the year. 10,561 railway and
factory employees and members of the respective office staffs attended for X-ray examination
from the nine firms surveyed as a result of the visits.
A scheme for the routine chest X-ray examination of expectant mothers attending the
Council's Ante-natal Clinics, was also commenced during the year. These sessions were held
at the Local Authority clinic premises at Forest Street and Maybury Road, covering the
respective halves of the Borough, and were arranged at appropriate intervals in the latter
part of the year, in order to enable each expectant mother attending the ante-natal clinic
to have a chest X-ray as early as possible during the course of the pregnancy. During the
year five such sessions were held, and 587 expectant mothers attended for X-ray examination.
Those cases showing evidence of tuberculous infection were referred to the Chest Clinic for
any further investigation and treatment necessary.
The arrangements for schoolchildren taking part in the Medical Research Council trials
of B.C.G. Vaccine including the chest X-ray examination, continued as in previous years. Any
cases found as a result of these trials were referred to the Chest Physician and dealt with in
the usual manner.
In addition, the chest X-ray examination of selected groups, including members of the
Council's staff whose duties entailed their being in close contact with children, was carried
out as in previous years, and in this connection 162 new entrants to the various departments
of the Corporation were X-rayed during the year.
(d) B.C.G. Vaccination.
Vaccination of susceptible contacts of known cases of tuberculosis has been continued.
During the year 156 children were given B.C.G. Vaccine aa compared with 103 in 1952.
46