Abstract
THE Report on Tuberculosis by Dr. A. S. MacNalty to the Ministry of Health (Reps. on Pub. Health and Med. Subjects, No. 64. H.M. Stationery Office. 3s. net.) may be regarded as an ‘‘audit of the present position of the tuberculosis question in Great Britain. Tuberculosis is a disease not only of medical interest but also of wide sociological and economic importance. Anti-tuberculosis measures cost the country a great deal for example, some 2½ million pounds are expended annually on the maintenance of residential institutions for treatment. During twenty years of anti-tuberculosis campaign, the decline in the mortality from the disease has been strikingfrom a total of 53,120 deaths in 1911 to 35,745 in 1930. One of the most interesting and important sections of this Report deals with the results of sanatorium treatment. This is very difficult to evaluate, for the ultimate result depends so much on a variety of factors, such as (1) the type of the diseasesome cases progress to a fatal issue in spite of all treatment, (2) the social position and sex of the patients, (3) the stage of the disease when treatment is commenced, (4) the age of the patientspulmonary tuberculosis in the young adult tends to shorten life much more markedly than when it occurs in or after middle life, (5) the circumstances of the patient after dischargethe character of his home surroundings, his own care of his health, the nature of his occupation, and the like. It is concluded that some fifty-seven per cent of male and sixty-seven per cent of female patients in the second stage of pulmonary tuberculosis survive, often with good working capacity, for five years or more a result which fully justifies the provision of sanatorium treatment Much important information is embodied in this Report upon such subjects as after-care and village settlements for the tuberculous, methods of diagnosis, and special forms of medical and surgical treatment.
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Tuberculosis in England and Wales. Nature 130, 124–125 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130124d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130124d0