[Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Aldershot U.D.C.

  • Aldershot (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Aldershot U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    22/80 (page 22)
    '12 inovrd for a more or less len^tli}- ])rrio(1 from a [possibly overcrowded or insanitary clwelliii^', the patient is able to learn the value to himself and others of hv^iene, of the best way of preventing infection in tliose around him, and of ])r('ser\'ing as far as possi!)le his own health. (2) d'he routine em})loymcnt of disinfection \vhi('h follows as a natural corollary on notification. (3) d'he provision of byedaws to be enforced by the Police ap^aiiist spitting in ])ublic places, and the exhibition of tablets or jiosters calling attention to the danger of indisci iminate expector- ation. (3) d'he systematic teaching of hygiene in the schools. (3) d'he pro\'ision by the Local Authoiity of ]Tro])er spit-bottles for the poor. It will be within your knowledge that since January ist, ipop, the notiheation of cases of tuberculosis in Poor Law patients has become compulsory, so that in a certain class of persons I have been able to emjiloy administrative measures for the control and supervision of cases, siudi as disinfection, visits of inspection and advice, and inspection of the all-important sanitary conditions of the home. While we have yet to wait for the more complete svstem of compulsory notification of the disease to be established by Parliament, on the same basis as other notifiable diseases, a system of voluntary notification may be adojited, w ldcli, w Idle only partial in its character, will, neverthe- less, bring within view a number of tuberculous cases wdiich hitherto have escaped supervision. It is here to be noted that in the military |)ortion of the Urban District of Aldershot, the notification of tuberculosis has always been compulsory, and the individual affected is recognised as being unfit for service, and as being a danger to others, and is removed from his environment. d'he sanatorium treatment of suitably selected notified cases is to be wmrmly recommended on the grounds which I have previously enumerated, d'here are two or three single wards at the Isolation Mospital which might lie used with great advantage for early cases of this disease in young or middle-aged individuals of the working classes. At the same time it must be borne in mind that the available accommodation at the Isolation llosjiital is limited, and it is likely to depend considerably on the number of patients who may be suffering from the diseases wdiich are already treated there : if, for example, the beds in tlie two principal wards should be for the most part occupied,