Report of the Commission of Public Health to the Minister of Public Health / Department of Public Health, Victoria.

  • Victoria. Commission of Public Health.
Date:
[1968]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Commission of Public Health to the Minister of Public Health / Department of Public Health, Victoria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Talks to secondary school children on the subject “ Smoking and Health ” were continued in an endeavour to discourage cigarette smoking. A demonstration kit consisting of resource material, illustrated posters and a list of visual aids was made available to teachers to enable their participation in this educational campaign. Smoking machines which artificially smoke cigarettes and draw the smoke through a filter and bubbling apparatus have been made available on loan by the Anti-Cancer Council to schools. DISASTER PLANNING. Except for the drought the State was fortunately free of major disasters which would involve officers of the Department. The standing orders for Displan were consolidated and re-issued so as to again emphasize the responsibility of the Commission and its officers in disaster planning. In February, 1968, for the second time in recent years, extensive bush fires ravaged the Dandenongs. However, what little public health measures were necessary were ably carried out by the municipalities concerned and only minimal supervision was required by departmental officers. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES REPORT. Tuberculosis. Introduction. Case Rates. For each of the last five years as the following table indicates, there has been a decline in the numbers and rates of new cases of tuberculosis notified, whilst the numbers of persons who have developed reactivated disease have remained remarkably steady. Year. New Number. Cases. Rate per 100,000 Population. Reactivated Cases. 1963 .. 888 28-80 * 1964 .. 820 25-93 72 1965 .. 790 24-50 84 1966 649 19-98 78 1967 599 18-13 80 * Not recorded. This continued decline gives some satisfaction, for the case finding programme has continued at much the same tempo during 1967, e.g., 641,974 persons were X-rayed by the Division of Mass X-ray Surveys, 82,678 persons were tuberculin tested by the B.C.G. Division, and 73,042 persons were examined at the State chest clinics. This represents a considerable proportion of the total population of Victoria, which at present is 3,303,631. Mass X-ray Surveys. The first Victorian compulsory chest X-ray survey of adults 21 years and over was commenced in October, 1963, and completed in August, 1967. During the survey there were 2,094,798 persons examined, yielding 974 cases of active tuberculosis and 7,421 apparently inactive cases—rates of •45 and 3-54 per 1,000 respectively. The checking has demonstrated that the individual in the community appears fully aware of the value of a constructive health measure and is willing to give his support to compulsory methods of implementing these measures. The yield of active cases from the first compulsory survey was at a rate of one case in every 2,150 persons X-rayed and compares most favourably with the figure of one case in every 3,500 persons X-rayed under the voluntary system. There was a striking preponderance of males amongst the active cases—720 (73-9 per cent.) compared with 254 females (26-1 per cent.). 74-8 per cent, were bacteriologically proven. That three out of every four persons discovered at survey were excreting tubercle bacilli underlines the risk of spread of tuberculosis by the undiagnozed person. As expected, active case rates increased as the age groups of persons examined increased. There were three age groups of people with fairly uniform rates of active tuberculosis discovered, namely, ages 20 to 34 years (1 : 4,163), 35 to 49 years (1 : 2,250), and 50 years and over (1 : 1,491). Undoubtedly, the efforts taken to control tuberculosis over the years have also had some influence and the relatively low rates being seen in the younger adults today reflect the influence of modern methods of tuberculosis treatment and control.