[Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Newcastle-upon-Tyne City & County.

  • Newcastle upon Tyne (England). City & County Council.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Newcastle-upon-Tyne City & County. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the Tuberculosis Medical Officer, and, as far as possible, all the patients known to be still alive, when last seen by Miss Cameron’s staff, were visited. 297 of the notifications were of lobar pneumonia, 269 of pneumonia associated with influenza, and 38 of pneumonia following other diseases, mostly measles in early childhood. Many of the patients were found to have died of the original disease, and some could not be traced, but 204 lobar pneumonias were investigated, 163 post influenzal pneumonias and 27 ‘ other ’ cases. It was found that a great aftermath of ill-health had followed on these diseases, most noticeable in the case of influenzal pneumonia, but the number of patients developing pulmonary tuberculosis was very small, namely six, five of these being after influenza. It is difficult to reconcile these figures with the other records, for on enquiry it was found that 42 or 15'3 per cent, of the 274 new sputum positive cases booked between June 1st, 1918, and June 30th, 1920, gave an attack of influenza as the starting point of their illness. It would appear, therefore, that either influenzal pneu¬ monia had no pronounced effect in predisposing to pulmonary tuberculosis or else a very large number of the cases escaped notification. Many cases of tubercle of the lung begin very acutely with symptoms resembling influenza, and this probably accounts for the large number of patients who ascribed their disease as originating after an attack of influenza. In this connection it should be here noted that recent observations by the writer lead him to suppose that the original acute attack often results in extensive lesions in both lungs and as a consequence very many cases of pulmonary tuberculosis are already in the third stage of Turban’s classification by the time that they are recognisable.