London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Barnes 1912
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Barnes]
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42 Tuberculosis Administration.
No attention is paid nowadays to desquamation in the latter
stages, as the flakes of skin are not capable of giving people Scarlet
Fever. It is safer at present, however, to treat the early
desquamating cases as infectious. Children who return home with
large tonsils are to be considered a possible source of infection, as
the Scarlet Fever germs may lurk in the crypts of the tonsils.
This is a difficulty which has not yet been solved, for it would be
highly undesirable to perform an operation such as removing the
tonsils in an infectious hospital. All that can be done is to apply
paints and disinfectants.
BACTERIOLOGY.
The following Table shows the results of Bacteriological Examinations carried out at the hospital during 1912.
| Result. | Diphtheria. | Tvphoid Fever. | Pulmonary Tuberculosis. | Other Diseases | Totals. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | 56 | — | 40 | — | 96 |
| Negative | 106 | 3 | 56 | 2 | 167 |
| Totals | 162 | 3 | 96 | 2 | 263 |
PREVALENCE OF AND CONTROL OVER
TUBERCULOSIS.
Progressive as this Council is in all matters relating to
preventive medicine, in no one branch has it done better work than
in connection with the control over Tuberculosis. Legislation in
regard to this subject has recently advanced rapidly with the
notification of Poor Law cases in 1908, and the notification of all
cases of lung tuberculosis in 1912, and now in 1913 to the
notification of all cases of tuberculosis. In 1912, 106 cases were
notified under the order of the Local Government Board making
Pulmonary Tuberculosis compulsorily notifiable.