Report of Council : 43rd / National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (Great Britain).

  • National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (Great Britain)
Date:
[1941]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Report of Council : 43rd / National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (Great Britain). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Medical Profession, Parliament, and the public have expressed their concern, and the Minister has appointed an influential Committee, under Lord Dawson of Penn, to investigate this question. This action shows that the individual causes are far from clear. Statistical and other enquiries will be necessary, but by next year, we should be able to establish the facts. Then remains the question : ‘“* Given the cause of this increase, what more can we do to arrest it?” RADIOLOGY Through original research, largely of British physicians, a type of pulmonary tuber- culosis, showing few symptoms, has been discovered. It occurs chiefly in young adults : it can progress silently, without disturbing the patient very much; or perhaps it would be truer to say that the symptoms the patient feels are mistaken for other things, and the disease in the lung progresses, until serious changes have taken place, and the germs have appeared in the sputum. He is then what is called an “ open ”’ case, far less curable, a potential danger to others, and a burden to the community. Tuberculosis Dispensary work has been built up on the assumption that patients will be referred by their doctors only when there is something wrong, or where they are contacts with a person known to be suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. What becomes then of the tragic cases in whom the disease is stealing on, but shows no signs ? The Association has been greatly concerned with this problem, and, with the advice of a Committee, under the chairmanship of Dr. R. A. Young, a member of Council, has decided that X- -Rays are the surest method of finding these unknown symptomless cases. When Julius V. Roentgen, some 46 years ago, threw the shadow of a bone on a photo- graphic plate by means of X-Rays, he did not foresee the value of his discovery in medicine. X-Rays have been used in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis for the last 15 years. The shadows which the air-containing lung throws on the screen with the various changes due to disease have been intensively studied, but radiology has been handicapped by its high cost, and the difficulty of examining large numbers of patients. The Association has felt that the public requires authoritative guidance on this subject, and decided to issue a memorandum on “ The Discovery of Symptomless Pulmonary Tuberculosis.”” This memorandum was circulated to Medical Officers of Health, County Medical Officers, Tuberculosis Officers, Local Authorities and their Public Health and Education Committees, Insurance Committees, Approved Societies, Trade Unions, Medical Members of Parliament, British Medical Association Divisions, as well as the medical and lay press, and nearly 9,000 copies have been sent out, mostly on request. It is evident that the memorandum has aroused considerable interest, both inside the medical profession and in the much larger circles of those who are concerned with our Public Health in war-time. By a deputation to the Past-President of the Trades Union Congress, the Association was able to put this point of view, and to express willingness to explore further the many social developments in the Tuberculosis Scheme, which will be necessary in years to come. THE CARE OF YOUNG WOMEN Under the Armed Forces Act, 1941, upwards of two million young women are being medically examined, and many will find their way into the Services or industry. It may be surmised that the majoxity of them will find the new conditions more strenuous than their lives would be in peace-time. These are in the age groups at which the risk of serious pulmonary tuberculosis is great, and the Association is urging upon the Authorities two .