Tuberculosis Mortality Among Children: The Last Stage

A Statistical Review of the 1950-1959 Decade in Canada, the United States, England and Wales, and France

¹ Consultant, and Statistician, New York Tuberculosis and Health Association, President, Queensboro Tuberculosis and Health Association
² Consultant, and Statistician, New York Tuberculosis and Health Association

1. During the 1950-1959 decade, tuberculosis mortality rates among children under 15 have decreased in the United States 88 per cent; in France by 91 per cent; in Canada by 92 per cent; and in England and Wales by 93 per cent.

2. In 1959, the children's tuberculosis death rate was 0.44 per 100,000 in the United States; 0.69 in England and Wales; 0.88 in Canada; and 1.80 in France.

3. In 1959, tuberculous meningitis was still responsible for the majority of deaths among children: 55 per cent of those in the United States; 61 per cent in Canada, England and Wales; and 68 per cent in France; but its occurrence has been greatly reduced.

4. BCG vaccination has had a very limited use in the United States; in Canada, practically only in Newfoundland and Quebec; increasingly among "school-leavers" —aged 13 or 14 — in England and Wales since 1953; and widely in France lately.

5. The general tuberculosis death rate for all ages in 1959 was 5.5 per 100,000 in Canada; 6.5 in the United States; 8.4 in England and Wales; and 23.4 in France.