CONSUMPTION.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10738, 18 August 1900, Page 6

CONSUMPTION.

There are two ooastrtutional diseases that are common all over the world, consumption (or tuberculosis) and cancer. Whether the second will ever he curable, and whether science will be able to unravel its causation we do not know. Not much has been accomplished in either direction as yet. But medical knowledge has been of late greatly extended regarding consumption, and it is now known that rf the disease is. taken in its early stages cures are not rare-=-in fact the percentage of curea is very large. The first thing to be rem.axnbered is that consumption is a contagious disease, .hough not an infectious one. Popularly the distinction is often overlooked. In a disease that is contagious the germ goes from one body to another and reproduces itself, whereas in an infectious disease there must be some intermediary ibody. We may give an illustration. In small-pox the disease germ goes directly from one patient to one susceptible, and he gets the disease. In malarial fever there must be some intermediary, such as water or soil. There are many contagious diseases—scarlet fever, small-pox, measles, etc., whereas yellow fever and cholera are examples of those that are infectious. Typhoid is. said to be both contagious and infectious. An interesting article in a recent n__ber of the "Philadelphia Medical Journal gives many Ulu-trations of the distinction we ha/ye explained.

Now, if we rem-*—n-ber that tuberculosis is contagious and tha* the disease germ may at once and! directly be communlicated to susceptible subjects, th. need of strictly quarantining consumptiv_ patients ia manifest, and yet this is just what we never do. We itave consumptives spitting amongst healthy people, and no props, precautions ara taken to k_l the germs in their sputa. Then there is tihe contact of clothing, and the fact of germs being distributed in the houses where _*. pat.e_— live. Association with consumptives in business —-wo—ring alongside of them in offices or factories— may convey the disease to th-ir co-workers. If hous— in wihich consumptives die are not thoroughly fumigated, and the germs killed, the disease —jay spread. Dr. Flbh found in 1888 that of 83 persons who died of consumption in one ward of the city of Philadelphia _, 68 had. dried in houses which had previously been tha homes of consumptive patients. And yet we ignore the contagiousness of the -lisease. The time must soon come if the disease is to be stamped out when the contagious_re_t of co_9umpt—at must be recognised, and) e-very case -©ported to an active Board of Health, who will take steps to see that the disease is not spread through wanton neglect. We spend much time and money in e__mining dairy cattlei, and this is no doubt commendable, bat we are neglecting a greater source of -he disease in not recognising that the disease is carried from one human being to another. It is, we believe, a curable complaint if taken in time. The open-air treatment has tea very successful ; pure air, sunlight, and pure water, are the deadly enemies of the germ.. We regret very much iv this connection that, the Government have not seen their way to e-tahlish a sanatorium for consumptives aa tl—y have been urged to do. Another mode of dealing with the disease has been _tried with; wonderful success by M. Crotte, a French electriciaun and chemist. His .plan, which has been tried with success ki St. j Luke's Hospital, rNew York, ia to introduce by electricity into the diseased lung formu-clehj-e gas. This gas kills the germs. It is introduced by tl» aid of electrical machines specially devised. These macliines use static electricity, and sponges saturated with formaldehyde are applied to | tlie patient's back or chest, and attached : to tha poles of the apparatus. In some j cases another sponge ia held close to the mouth of the patient and connected with the battery. Tbe electricity flows in & steady

current t-iirougih. tlie sponges, and thus, it. i is said, the formaldehyde is conveyed into ; the lungs. The results We been marvellous—7s per cant, of those in tiro second stage have been cured, and. it is said over 30 per cent, of these were, said to be hop.. I—is. The gas cannot be bPK-tbed, as it sets up a cough that might injure a consumptive patient, but the mode of administering it adopted has been found -successful. It is said that immediately before the operation tbe germs are found in tho sputum in thousands, alive and moving ; after tire operation tbe g.r_as ar_, genera—y discovered dead. This is a matter that might receiva the consideration of our Board of Health, and of our medical men. The open-air treatment, with this treatment superadded, coupled with strict precautions against tho disease, b-eause of iis contagiousness, ought very much to le*s-en its ravages. About 600 deaths a year from tltis disease occur in -New Zealand; at least 450 of these lives might be saved, if not more, were proper steps takeu to prevent the spread of the disease, and to provide a proper remedy when a patient is first attacked. As Lord Beacons!ield once said, the public health is rli. first and greatest concern of the State, and yet how little is dune to promote it. If we had no slums in uur cities, no places without fresh air and sunlight, pure air, pure water, and cleanliness, how much misery and disease might be avoided! But our local bodies are often

only active in taking proper sanitary precautions when some dread disease like the plague threatens us. By duo care we could get rid of typhoid, and of consumption, and per__p- of many other diseases.