[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Montgomeryshire County Council.

  • Montgomeryshire (Wales). County Council.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Montgomeryshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The mortality of a chronic disease such as tuberculosis is not a sound indication of the incidence of the deaease, because of the time lag between infection and death, and because improved treatment has lessened the proportion of cases which die. Nevertheless it is apparent that remarkable success has been achieved in recent years in the prevention of tuberculosis. The following table shows the actual number of new cases notified and deaths registered from pulmonary and non-pulmonary tuberculosis since 1941. The number of new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis rose remarkable during the war and post-war years, but since then there has been a marked reduction in the number of cases notified. The reduction in the number of non-pulmonary tuberculosis cases notified is even more marked - probably due to the improvement of milk production, particularly Tuberculin Tested milk and Pasteurised milk. Whenever a new case of tuberculosis is notified, a visit to the home is made by the Health Visitor who endeavours to trace the source of infection and to persuade every member of the household to visit the Chest Physician's Clinic, with a view to discovering any source of infection in the household or any secondary cases of infection from the notified patient. The Chest Physicians' Clinics are attended by the Health Visitors concerned who can advise the Chest Physician on the Home environment, sanitary conditions, etc., and who can be instructed by the Chest Physician with a view to advising members of the household on the prevention of spread of infection. Maternity and Midwifery Service Ante-natal and Post-natal Clinics These are conducted by general medical practitioners at the local hospitals, at their own surgeries and at Newtown Clinic. The Clinic is staffed by a member of the County Infirmary Staff, the Health Visitor and the District Nurse-midwife and in this way close liaison is maintained between the various authorities con- cerned with the welfare of the expectant mother. District Nurse-midwives also in some districts attend and assist at Ante-natal sessions held at the General Medical Practitioners surgeries.