The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1907. THE CONSUMPTIVE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3769, 13 August 1907, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1907. THE CONSUMPTIVE.

It is regrettable to learn the treatment that is meted out to cur unfortunate fellow men and women who are suffering from consumption. They are shunned as was the leper ot old. There is a case in Foxton. The patient was ordered by Dr Mandl to be removed to the District'Hospital, but was not allowed to board the train. We presume a special car will have to be procured to send him where he can receive the treatment his disease requires. For the uiformation of the public we publish the following, which should be read with interest: Under the head ng of “Panic and Prejudice” Mr W. K. McClure, writing in the Westminster Gazette has drawn attention to the growing tendency among a considerable section of the public

to treat the sufferer from pulmonary tuberculosis almost as an outcast, or, at any rate, as one to be shunned from fear of infection. He very cogently and rightly points out that a wider recognition of the simple fact that infection is chiefly conveyed by careless expectoration would “ do far more to prevent the spread of consumption than the callous ignorance which brands all consumptives as outcasts.” The knowledge of the communicability of consumption from person to person so long disputed, but now so universally recognised, has resulted in a widespread misconception as to the mode of infection, in virtue of which no little hardship is inflicted upon the unfortunate sufferers from that disease. An instance of this is brought forward by Mr McClure. He points out that the fear of infection has so taken hold of many people’s mind that the warm health resorts of Southern Europe and Northern Africa are practically barred to those suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. Mentone led the way in excluding them; some years ago the proprietors of first-class hotels agreed: among themselves to refuse to receive guests known to be suffering from consumption on the supposition that their presence hindered the development of Mentone as a pleasure resort. Since then a similar action has almost been forced upon the hotel proprietors in other parts of the Rivera, so that practically consumptives can only visits these places when they conceal the nature of their illness. Mr McClure states that inquiries were made in the autumn of 1905 and again last autumn at the principal hotels at every resort from Hyeres to Rapallo as to whether consumtiv.es. were received, the reply in almost every instance being an uncompromising negative. One of the answers was a striking testimony to the reason under-lying these refusals, lor the hotel proprietor replied that many of the visitors to his hotel made it a condition that no one suffering from disease of the lungs should be taken as a guest. As Mr McClure points out ‘‘the pleasure seekers have made up their minds that consumptives must either remain in sanatoria in their own country, or if they come abroad go straight to the Davos valley and stay there.” This attitude towards the unfortunate sufferer which. Mr McClure so.rightly and so strongly deprecates is one with which the medical practitioner is very familiar. He is frequently asked whether it is not dangerous to retain the services of a tuberculosis person, or, if he be attached to a hospital, often hears that the consumptive has been discharged from his employment owing to the fear of infection. Instances could easily be multiplied showing the growing tendency to treat the consumptive like the leper or to regard him as a pariah to be avoided in every way possible. Mr McClure’s thoughtful article deserves to be read widely. It cannot be too generally known that practically the only means of conveying the infection from one person to another is from the drying of sputum and dissemination as dust containing tubercle bacilli, if we except intimate personal contact, such as kissing or occupying the same bed. Further, that given the most simple precautions in regard to the disposal ot his sputum by the consumptive, the danger of infection is almost nonexistent. The public have obviously a right to expect that such precautions shall be rigidly carried out, and in return it is their duty to treat the sufferer with the consideration and the sympathy which he deserves and not to increase his sufferings further by branding him as dangerous and to be avoided.