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As this disease chiefly attacks artificially fed Infants, a
printed card giving advice and instructions as to the feeding and
management of Infants, is sent during the summer, to every house
in the Borough, in which during the year a birth has been
registered.
As the law only demands that Births shall be registered
within six weeks of their occurrence, it sometimes happens that
a child dies before its birth has been registered, therefore, any card
of advice or instruction sent to these cases is too late to be of any
value. To remedy this defect, the Notification of Births Act
(1907) was passed. This is an adoptive Act, but where in force
notification of all births must be sent to the Medical Officer of
Health within 36 hours of their occurrence. The Public Health
Committee decided to recommend the Council not to adopt the
Act. It is, however, no doubt one of considerable value, more
especially during the third quarter of the year, when Infantile
Mortality from Summer Diarrhoea, which is largely a preventible
disease, is often lamentably high.
TUBERCULOUS DISEASE.
175 deaths were registered from various forms of Tuberculosis.
This is equal to a rate of 1.28 per 1,000 of population.
During the previous year the number of deaths recorded in
the Borough from this cause was 169, and the rate was 1.3 per
1,000.
Of the 175 deaths registered from all forms of Tuberculosis,
106 were due to Phthisis, i.e., Tuberculosis of the lungs. This
form is not only by far the most common, but is also, from the
point of view of Public Health, the most dangerous. The expectoration
of these patients contains millions of the germs of this
disease, and unless great care is taken in disposing of it, other
people are certain to become infected.
The system of voluntary notification instituted two years ago
has not been very successful, only nine cases being notified in the
first year (1906) and 18 cases during 1907.