[Report 1935] / Medical Officer of Health, Huddersfield County Borough.

  • Huddersfield (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1935
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1935] / Medical Officer of Health, Huddersfield County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    105/126 (page 99)
    TUBERCULOSIS. Ernest Firth, M.B., Ch.B., Assistant Tuberculosis Officer. Notifications. During 1935 the total notifications of ah forms of Tuberculosis were 148, giving an incidence rate per 1,000 living population of 1.3. The corresponding figures for the previous year were 166 and 1.4 respectively. The incidence rates per 1,000 living population for Pulmonary and Non-Pulmonary forms were 0.9 and 0.3 respectively. Compared to 1934 there is again a decrease in Pulmonary disease, whilst the incidence rate for Non-Pulmonary forms is but little changed. In the School Medical Report of 1934 it was suggested that the sharp decrease in Non-Pulmonary notifications was due mainly to the decline in Abdominal Tuberculosis, and that this decline, though probably partly artificial, was due also to some extent to the improved milk supply ; the figures for the year under review tend to support this suggestion. The decrease in the Pulmonary rate would be more satisfactory were it not for the fact that so many of the new cases are advanced when first seen. Of the 109 cases of Pulmonary disease notified 96 were adults ; of these 43, or 44.8 per cent., had a positive sputum when first seen. This percentage shows a decrease of 3.0 on the 1934 figures. Deaths. There has been a further decline in the number of deaths, the total for the year being 80, giving a mortality rate for all forms of 0.7 per 1,000. The figures for 1934 were 91 deaths and a mortality rate of 0.8 per 1,000. The number of deaths occurring within one year of notification was 48, or 60 per cent., of the total deaths. This figure shows a slight rise compared to 1934. It is no wonder that the general public have a horror and dread of Tuberculosis when such a large proportion of cases die within such a short period of being discovered. Deaths which occurred prior to notification numbered 14 in the year under review, a percentage of 17.5. This figure is a welcome and much needed reduction from last year, when the high percentage of 23.1 was reached. The whole problem of successful treatment depends on early recognition and notification, for without this a Tuberculosis scheme cannot do its work properly. It is believed that if propaganda among the general public was actively pursued, some of this age old fear wxmld be removed and patients would begin to demand full investigation of persistent chest symptoms, instead of being satisfied with an acceptable and often self-formed diagnosis of Chronic Bronchitis—a position which is all too common at the present time.