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BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK.
Southwark Tuberculosis Dispensary,
82-84, Newington Causeway, S.E.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Borough of Southwark.
Sir and Gentlemen,
The year 1918 has been marked by a considerable improvement in
the prevalence and mortality of pulmonary tuberculosis in the Borough,
for not only have fewer cases been notified than in the three previous
years but the death rate from Pulmonary tuberculosis has also been
lower.
A greater number of primary examinations were made at the dispensary,
but in spite of this fewer cases of infection were detected. It is
hoped that this may be the commencement of a definite decline of the
disease in Southwark and that the constant increase of newly notified
cases, which has been discouraging during the last three years, may now
be succeeded by a fall. It is the notifications of new cases that matter—
providing these are stationary or declining, a high death rate is not undesirable,
as it means removing sources of infection from our midst.
It might also be pointed out here that many consumptive cases have
died of other diseases, such as influenza during the year, and their
deaths were due to the intercurrent diseases and not phthisis; thus many
more deaths of phthisical people have occurred than the returns show.
Among the children, mild glandular infection with debility is by far
the commonest type, and provided this does not go too far and spread to
other organs, this mild inoculation with the disease is probably protective,
for very few of these develop pulmonary disease in later life, and very
few of those who have pulmonary disease in later life have a history of
glandular disease in childhood. The occurrence of pulmonary tuberculosis
in children is not very frequent, for of the 579 notifications in
Southwark only 68 were under the age of 15 years.
There has been a slight decline in the total attendances of patients
which follows from the fact that there were fewer fresh cases and also
from the fact that the panel practitioners have taken a larger part than