CONSUMPTION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5026, 13 September 1926, Page 1

CONSUMPTION.

GOVERNMENT’S CAMPAIGN.

STATEMENT BY DEPARTMENT.

“Few people reach adult life with-

out having suffered from tubercular infection to some extent. With the better facilities we have nowadays, medical, authorities state that there are very few people who have not suffered to some extent from the result o'f tubercular infection, although fortunately in the majority of eases it is conquered without showing any

lasting ill-effects. . • We know that undoubtedly a fair proportion of children classified as of subnormal nutrition have latent tuberculosis. Such is the statement made by the Health. Department, which is undertaking a thorough survey of the school children with a view of detecting these children and having them treated in health camps or convalescent homes or sanatoria. T-t is an. important step forward. If all people tried .to understand this problem- of consumption they would greatly hielp in eradicating this disease, which kills about one-tenth of the world's, population.

What is consumption ? It is. an infection—that is, it is due to the consumption germ getting a hold of the system. Everywhere there are untaught consumptives coughing and spitting these germs about, so that everybody is brought in contact with the germs.. And everybody breathes in, from time to time, numbers of them.

The germs get a foothold in the body; they make a poison which circulates in the blood and causes the disease known as consumption. Fortunately all who are attacked do not become ill. The blood in most case.s can make an antidote to fight the pbison. There is thus in nearly everybody a fight going on between this consumption poison and the antidote. If the poison gets the upper hand, thte.h the disease manifests. itself. If the antidote is the victor, then all is well and good.

The onset of the disease is very insidious ; the body is. very gradually poisoned. The symptoms for a long time may be very slight indeed. The patient loses health and strength slowly. There may be no symptoms to draw attention to any particular part of the body. He may lose weight, become pa]e and anaemic, have headaches 1 , lose, appetite, and especially he may be unduly tired. If carefully examined by an expert the true cause will be found. With proper sanatorium treatment started the outlook will be, good. - But, unfortunately, more often the cause is not detected and the patient is allowed to go downhill too far before seeing the expert, and innumerable lives are sacrificed. Of all serious diseases none is more hopeful of recovery than tuberculosis if detected early and treated thoroughly in a proper sanatorium.

Many of the unfortunates are treated for pleurisy, debility, anaemia, breakdown, etc., and all the time they are going downhill with consumption. Again it must be stressed that about one-tenth of all people die ot this disease and a still larger proportion suffer from the disease and recover from it. It is thus the commonest of all diseases.

Still more tragic is the fact tha.t it chiefly attacks people in the prime of life—from 20 to 35 years of age—at a time when most people have young children dependent on them. And it is a long-drawn-out illness where the patient may .be unable to work for years before the end. It is the biggest of all our social problems, and much credit is due to the. Health Department in starting a. more vigorous campaign.

By getting the sickly children they may prevent a lot of distress, but the people must co-operate with the department to make the results as good as possible, A child may havfe the infection latent or . slightly active and carry on for years, until he is turned loose to make his own living. The, extra strain then put upon the youth might light the disease up into more activity and the disease! left till it has too great a hold.

Surely it is obvious that if treated early much illness would be. avoided.

It is. thus the ignorance of the people that is the cause, of much: of this misery. They are imbued with all kinds of mistaken ideas and fallacies regarding the disease. They consider it incurable. And so it is if left too long, but if treated early most would recover. Instruction of the people on proper lines will s,ave thousands ot lives and untold distress. May the department’s efforts be supported and bear much fruit. But the department’s efforts, to be truly siuccesdlful, must not be confined to the children. They must seek to dispel the general ignorance among the parents, to teach them that the cure of consumption is not found in the mere administration of a ; ny drug but in the careful adherence to the principles of treatment laid down by the experts.