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86
Report of Tuberculosis Officer—continued.
torium from some other institution and who will attend Dispensary
on discharge. Similarly as regards contacts ; several contacts of
cases notified late in the year attend in the early part of the
following year and are not therefore included in the table dealing
with the examination of contacts of cases notified during the year.
29 % of the total contacts were examined before the end of the year.
43% of the child ,, ,, ,,
22 % of the adult ,, ,, ,,
Of the contacts of cases seen at the Dispensary, approximately
32 per cent. of the total and 47 per cent. of the child contacts were
examined.
Of the contacts of cases not seen at the Dispensary 18 per
cent. of the total and 33 per cent. of the child contacts were
examined.
From the above figures it is evident that where the original
case comes directly under the Dispensary organisation, contacts
are more readily persuaded to attend for examination.
It is of interest to note that the number of child contacts is
much smaller than the number of adult contacts—approximately
half the number. Figures for some years past show a similar
percentage.
In considering the number of contacts examined during the
year, it is desirable to point out that in the Ministry of Health
table (page 82), the term "contact" is restricted to persons who
come, on advice, for examination purely as the result of recent
notification of some member of the household.
If a person comes because he has a cough or other suspicious
symptoms and wishes to be examined to see if he is all right, he
is not classed as a contact but as a "suspect."
Five contacts, as defined above, were found to be tuberculous
during the year under report, but 35 persons who had another
member of their respective households notified in previous years,
were seen during 1934 and found to be suffering from tuberculosis.
The Tuberculin Testing of child contacts of tuberculosis
was continued and the results, with notes as to action taken, are
given below.