FIGHTING CONSUMPTION.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 251, 23 August 1928, Page 2

FIGHTING CONSUMPTION.

MENACE CF TUBERCLE. A paper read by Dr. A. Bernstein, of Morrinsville, to a meeting at Hamilton under the auspices of the Workers’ Educational Association and British Medical Association. (Continued). Infected Houses. - Nobody should live in a house vacated by a consumptive till it has been thoroughly cleansed and disinfected. Consumption germs can lurk in dusty dark corners for months. With thorough disinfection all is safe.

Infected Milk. We must see that the milk is sterilised before our children take it. Workshops. We must see that people are not allowed to work in unsanitary, illventilated workshops. There is a steady improvement everywhere, but we must go on improving. Picture palaces and hotels should be ventilated. Public drinking fountains should not have cups for common use. Spitting. We must see that laws are made and enforced to prevent people from spitting promiscuously. The infected spit gets on one’s boots and is carried into our houses and our children breathe in the filth. Consumptives must spit into flasks which can be boiled with the enclosed spit daily. A little boiling destroys all germs.

Coughing. On coughing the mouth must be covered with a handkerchief, other- < wise the spray coughed into the air I spreads numerous germs. Even the spray drying on the handkerchief may get.spread about on drying, so j it is wise to carry the handkerchief in a washable bag or pocket. It is a filthy habit to cough in one’s face. It is filthy to put into your mouth anything that comes from the mouth of another person, as a pipe or whistle or sweet. It--is filthy for mothers to taste every spoonful of babies’ food. It is dangerous to kiss children on the lips, and children should not be allowed to play on the floor of a consumptive’s room or to sleep in the same room. Of course, in a proper sanatorium the patient is taught all these precautions. He has everything of his own—his own plate and cups and glasses and thermometers and cutlery and tea towels, etc., etc. In private life it is simple to carry out the precautions mentioned above. They are little more than common decency demands. Remember, then, that tuberculosis can

j only be contracted when the body is (lowered by bad conditions or illness, and at the same time by taking into the system enough of the germs. If all consumptives were properly taught and the treatment enforced when necessary then consumptives would not spread the disease. People who know that they are consumptive

are usually properly instructed and are perfectly safe. But there are thousands of people going about who are suffering from consumption Without knowing it. They are not told what is the matter with them. It should be considered criminal to keep that knowledge from a victim, both I for his own sake and for the sake of I the community. The law demands j j that every case of consumption be notified to the Health Department, but we have seen that a la’-ge proportion are only notified just before death, so that for years most of these victims have been infecting others. We want early diagnosis of this disease and thorough notification. Of deaths between 15 and 45 years of age consumption causes 30 per cent. Of all deaths in friendly societies consumption causes 15 per cent. Consumption accounts for 37 per cent, of all deaths between 20 and 35. In the Dominion there are always at least 6000 cases of active consumption with at least 20,000 dependant on them. If consumption were abolished increase of expectation of life in males for ages 15-25 would be 2£ years—for 100,000 at these ages aggregate | increase 250,000 years. At £2OO each male equals fifty million pounds, or a recurring annual gain to the country of two and a-half millions.

Personal pain, suffering and distress of thousands of patients, rela-

I tives and friends impossible to assess. | Yet all this is preventable. An intelligent handling of the problem would save most of this distress. Spread of proper knowledge of the disease will do more than anything. Less than 100 years ago practically everybody used to contract smallpox, and it was the greatest cause of mortality. By proper methods this scourge has been almost abolished. We can hope for a similar result with consumption. Friendly Societies. Many patients reach a sanatorium

late and can only be got fit for partial work, and these are a difficult problem. It is difficult to get partial work to provide a living wage. If the patient works too hard he breaks down. If this partial wage were supplemented by assistance from the friendly societies the man might carry on for years. But if he goes to work at all the society drops his contribution, so the man is encouraged to idle away his time. If these societies, who do so much good, would realise that the" problem of the consumptive is different from that of other sick men they could do still more good work. They should encourage the man to do the work he is able to do and supplement the deficiency. Some great factory owners, notably Henry Ford, have done much for consumptives. He has thousands of consumptives in his works, living under the best conditions, and doing work they are fit for and earning full pay. In this way alone Henry Ford has been one of the greatest benefactors of mankind.

In Conclusion. To wipe out tuberculosis, then, the following points require attention:— 1. Spread of the knowledge of the disease. 2. Its infectious nature. 3. Early diagnosis. 4. Better instruction on the disease in medical schools. 5. Sanatoria. 6. Instruction in the simple precautions as to sanitation, ventilation, sputum disposal, clean milk. 7. Forced treatment of those who are viciously dangerous. 8. Teaching the importance of living in the fresh air, even with the children and schools.

With the spread of knowledge as outlined consumption should disappear within a generation. Instead, through ignorance we allow one tenth of our race to be destroyed chiefly in the prime of life. We allow untold preventable misery to continue. I have described the nature of the fight and how you can all help to win the war. Each one of you can teach many others. Spread the knowledge and help to wipe out the greatest scourge in the world. (The End) I

Four years’ experience in Australia’s Leading Ladies’ Hairdressing Saloon.