TUBERCULOSIS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20893, 6 December 1929, Page 12

TUBERCULOSIS.

CLERGYMAN’S ALLEGED CURE. IMMEDIATE DISCLOSURE URGED. {Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, December 5. Medical officers of tl Department of Health, interviewed to-day, stated that the Rev. Mr Ward should immediately disclose the nature of his alleged cure to the medical superintendent of the Auckland Hospital and to prominent medical practitioners i Auckland in order that confirmatory investigations under skilled observance may be carried out. The search for an infallible remedy for tuberculosis, it was said, has been pursued intensively in all civilised countries for well over 100 years, and ftiere was no doubt that if a preliminary trial in New Zealand supported the claims made by the Rev. Mr Ward the Ministry of Health in England and the medical authorities of other countries would welcome any opportunity given them of trying such a remedy. Questioned regarding the prospects of the “ ciire ” being genuine, the medical officers replied that many treatments already in use can claim a good proportion of cures, particularly of early cases of consumption, but no infallible remedy has yet been discovered. They brought under notice the following statement of an eminent English authority in regard to tuberculosis: — “ The search for an infallible remedy is as alluring to-day as was ever the quest for the philosopher’s stone. The cure of tuberculosis is not beyond the powers of Nature, but art possesses no certain means of attaining this desirable end. Every week some new preparation or nostrum is brought to the : otice of the medical profession, but on trial it proves to be the fairy gold of medication, turning to ashes in the morning, ' Many of us can recall the high hopes that were raised by the announcement of Koch’s tuberculin and of Marmorck’s serum—hopes that at first appeared to be fully justified by the successful treatment of a few cases. By improvement in the social conditions of the people and of the food and’ environment of the poor a steady reduction in the incidence of and mortality from tuberculosis has been brought about; but hitherto, In the absence of an infallible specific, the treatment in general use baa been one of supporting the resistance of the patient and stimulating the development of antibodies in the blood;" The matter of the alleged “ cure ” Js so serious added the medical man, that confirmatory 1 ’ investigations are necessarily required.