View report page

54
in my opinion, to diagnose as pulmonary tuberculosis the
prolonged or slightly prolonged expiration that is sometimes
met with at the right apex, though possibly tuberculosis of the
bronchial glands may be suspected The careful observations of
Dr. King (who has assisted me during the last 4 months) give
corroboration to these opinions. That many of the children
whom we examine have a tuberculous focus somewhere, and
which may be suspected from various signs, e.g., mal-nutrition,
anaemia, etc , or may give no indication at all, is undoubted,
but the positive signs are few, and a definite diagnosis by the
ordinary clinical examination is in most cases impossible.
Hence these cases cannot be definitely entered on our
schedules as cases of tuberculosis. Again, we may suspect
some of the cases of otorrhoea to be tuberculous in nature,
but, in the absence of means of proof at our disposal in
school work, we do not diagnose them as such.
Under the various Public Health (Tuberculosis)
Regulations, which require the notification of all cases of
pulmonary tuberculosis, 26 children of school age, i.e., between
5 and 14 years, were so notified to the Medical Officer of
Health in 1912.
Under the new Tuberculosis Regulations of December
20th, 1912, all cases of tuberculosis, pulmonary or otherwise,
have to be notified to the Medical Officer of Health. This will
mean a greatly increased number of notifications of children
of school age, since tubercle more often affects the glands and
bones in children than the lungs.
We are looking forward to the day when open-air
schools for delicate children and for those pre-disposed to