Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-08-16
CONSU MPTION.
HOW THE DREADED DISEASE
MAY BE PREVENTED.
Valuable Suggestions Emanating
From the New York Board
of Hcaith-A Living Germ
Causes Consumption.

The disea7s known as tuberculosis, and
when affecting t:ia lungs as pulmonary tI:-
nercuiosis tcoi.slluption), is very common in
the human benz; and in certain of the do
inestic animals especially cattle. About one
i"urth oil al deaths occurring i'll the human
being during, adult life are caused by it. anil
nearly one-half of the entire population ut
some time in life acquires it. The disease is
the Sinc III nature i'll animals and in man
and has the same cause.
1t has hecu proved beyond q doubt tllnt n
living germ. called the q tuDercle bacillus. =
Is the cause and tic only cause OF tubercu-
losiS. III docs not seem necessary to state the
i;lc.S upon which the assertion is based foi.
W. os'ssrvation first iiuie by Robert Koch
III ISL has heen confirmed 50 often and 50
completely tint j; now constitutes or. OF The
most absolutely demonstrated facts in mcd;-
cine.
HGD .rouiosis may affect any organ of the
b'nN, hut most frequently first involves tho
lungs. When titeIiving germs find their way
lnto the body tl,cv multiply there, il favorable
conditions for their growth exist, and produce
sinai, new Srowtiis or no,iu,eS (tuberclcS,,
wiich teud to soften. The discharges from
these soitenei tuberclcs. containing the liv-
ing germs, are thrown Off from thu body. In
pulmonary tuberculosis these discharges con-
Stitutc, i'll part. the eXpcctoration The germs
thus thrown oil do not Srow outside the liy-
ing human or animal body, except under ar
tliic'al conditions, althoi.-., ti,oy may rctuin
their vitality AID viiulcncc for long periods
oil time even When thoroughly dried AS
tuberculosis can only result fr0m the action
OF these germs, il follows from what has lust
been said That when tho disease is acquired il
must result from receiving into the body the
living germs that have come from some
other human being or aIilsal affected with
the disease
1t has been abuninntiy established that
the disease may he Transmitted by meat or
milk from the tubcrcu,ar animal. The mill,
ElilnttS III mich nftn.t 4
with the disease when their LUNGS are in
vowed, aud the milk from such animals may
contain tile wing germs and is capable OF
producing tic d,seasc. Among stall-fed
outiiy COWS twenty per cent or thirty pe,.
cent. are sometimes foand to be affected with
tho disease. Tuhercular animals are also
frequently killed for food, their flesh some
Tunes containing the germs, ani il not thor
oughiy cooked is capable of transmitting the
disease. Hol!ing the milk or thoroli,,hly
cooking the meat destroys the germs. Al
though the meat and milk from tubercular
ANIMALS const tute actual and important
sources of danger, this disease is acquired. ms
a rule, through its communication from man
to man.
Tuberculosis is commonly produce,i in tbo
lungs (Which are the organs most frequently
aheccteiG by breathing iirin which the living
germs are suspended Us dust. The material
,hlch is conghed up. sometimes i'll large guam
titles, by persons suffering from CONSUMPTION
bers. This material when cxpactorntcd. fro
| quentiy lodges i'll places where it aftcrwartl
dtles; as on the streets, floors carpets, cloth
ing, handkerchiefs, etc. After drying in one
way or another, 1t is very apt to become pull
verified and float in the air us dust.
u mas been shown cxpcrimcntally that dust
collected from the most varied points in hos
| p''ai wards, asyiums, prisons, private houses.
sc.,where conSl,mptivc patients ara present,
| is capable of producing tuberculosis i'm mi.
nai i,p
dust may retain for weeks IFS power Of pre-
duclnS the disease. On the Otha. hand, dust
collected from rooms i'll institutions or houscs
tiiat nave not been occupied by tnbarcular
parents does not produce the disease when
usel tnr the incubation Of animals.
These observations show that where thor,
ure cases OF pulmonary tuberculosis under
| ordinary conditions the dust s,lrrOundinn
tncm Often contains the ''tuoercle bacilii =
| ana persons inlialing the air in which thi,
dust is suspended may he taking in the living
| Eernis. 1t should, however be distinctly mn
| derstood that tie breath of tubcrculn;. ma
TENTS and the moist sinitum, received in
| proper cups, are not elements of danger but
only The dried ami pulvcrizcd sputum Tx
breath and moist sputum are free from, dance;
because the germs are not dislodrrd FROM
| moist surfaces by currents of air If all eiis.
charges were destroyed at the time of exit
from tie body the greatest danger of comma.
nication from man to man would lie re.
| moved.
| In then follows. from what has bee, said.
mat tuberculosis is distinctly preventablo
disease. 1t is well-known fact that some
persons and especially the members of Ger.
.ain inihllies are particularly liable 10 tubei-
| culoss, and this liability can he transmitted
from parents to children. SO marked and
SO frequent is this liability and so frequent is
the development of the disease in particular
families that the affection has long been con
s si,,i hereditary; We now know that
tunffcnioSlS can only DO caused by the en-
trance OF the germ into the body, and that
TINS transmitted inability simply renders the
individual II more easy prev TO the Ii aoU
| germs when once they have gained entrance
me frequent occurrence of several cases Of
pulmonary tuberculosis in Il family is. then.
/ 70 o. explained not Oh the superstition thai
TIE disease Itself has been inherited but thr I
IL mas been produced after birth by trausmis-
/ son directly from some affected Individual
Where the parents are affected with tubcr-
caiosS tnn children from the earliest mo
mems OF HE are exposed 10 the disease III
| der the most favorable conditions for its
transmission, for not only is tile dust of thc
house likely to contain the bacili. Int the re-
lat!onshD also between parents and children.
eSpeciaiiy between the mother and child, is
| OF that close and infinite nature especially
, favorable FOR tic transmission by direct cor.
| tact.
IL, then, tuberculosis is not inherited. tho
question OF prevention resolves itself princ;-
Piiiy INTO I'll" avoidance of tnbercular meat
and milk and the destruction of thc dis.
charges. especially the sputlim of tubcrcular
individuals. As to the first means of com
nihnicatlon, those measures of prevention
alone answer tine requirements which embrace
Tue governmental inspection of dairy cows
and OF animals slaughtered for food and the
| rigid exclusion and destruction of all thosa
found So BE- tubcrcnar.
FOR the removal of the second means OF
communication; j.. e., the spntum OF tuba,-
cnl'ir individuals, the problem is simple when
horses. Fhen, wooden or pasteboard CUPS,
with covers, should always be ut hand for tho
reception OF the s.,uta;n. These crps are sun.
ported i'll simple RACKS and at least once ,aiiy.
| or more frequently f necessary should he re.
moved from the racks end thrown with t:lcir
contents into the fire \ cheap ard efficient
cup answering this purpose is now on the
market, and is supplied by tic druggists
The disposition of the cXncctorntiOn of per.
sons who are not confined TO their rooms o,
ho:ncs is a far moro difficult problem The
appropriation certainly should not he die