[Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Ely County Council.

  • Isle of Ely (England). County Council. n 78027969.
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Ely County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    reactions occurred after any of the inoculations, and only in two cases did any really serious reaction come to light. The total number of children under five, and of school age who have been fully immunised up to June 30th, 1943 is as follows : under five, 2254, school age, 12,695. It will be appreciated that the numbers are greater than the whole child population of the County and this of course, is accounted for by the evacuees. (3) TUBERCULOSIS, (a) General Incidence. The increase in the incidence of the disease particularly for 1940 and 1941 has given rise to considerable anxiety throughout the country, but some comfort can be obtained from the fact that the rise seems to have been checked as far as the figures for 1942 show, though of course this may only be temporary. In this County judging by the figures of deaths for the disease it has shown a steady decline but a fact of interest is that the ratio of deaths from non-pulmonary disease to those from respiratory tuberculosis has risen considerably, till the 1942 figures show the deaths from non-pulmonary tuberculosis are more than 50% of those from the pulmonary kind. This may perhaps be partly explained by the fact that the armed forces have absorbed many of those in the most susceptible years for pulmonary disease and those left are children and older people. The latter do not die so much from tuberculosis as from other diseases, while non- pulmonary forms e.g. Meningitis, etc., claim the young children. Thus the' trend would be purely a temporary one. One matter to which increasing attention is at long last being given, is the problem of Pulmonary 1 ubercuioHs in children. More and more is it being appreciated that tuberculosis in children, not only the pulmonary variety but also considerable numbers of non- pulmonary cases arise by the child s contact with an open case, i.e. one suffering from Pulmonary Tuberculosis who is spitting up Tubercle Bacilli. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the supervision of contacts of any open case and the most careful following up with regular attendances at the dispensary is necessary in each instance. This counsel however postulates adequate accomodation for each open case found and also for each contact where there is the slightest suspicion, especially if the contact is a child. (b) Memo. 266/T. For a long time one of the difficulties under which the Tuberculosis Service has been labouring has been the problem of getting the early case if a wage earner, to give up his job and go into a sanatorium, and for that reason the issue of Memo. 266/T by the Ministry of Health was welcomed. But it was soon found that only a few would be benefitted and that