The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-11-05
Danger From Consumption.
From the Providence Journal

OF Health has recently been engaged i
an investigation to determine the purit
Of the milk sold in that city, with tn
especial purpose of inquiring into tn
sale of the milk of tuberculous animals
A Committee appointed by the Veteri
nary Department of the University 0
Pennsylvania to investigate the value
of the Koch tuberculin had been EN-
ployed for some time in the endeavor tx
discover ias efficiency or worthlessness
and finally r. ,,orted that it has no value
as a curative agent, but is useful in re
yeaIing the presence of tuberculosis il
affected cows, a fact of no small import
anee, in view OF the difficulty With
which it is discovered in it's early stages
The result of this Committees report is
| the new activity of the Philadelphia
! Board of Health.
The Secretary says that competent
person has been Investigating for some
weeks and that the authorities are de-
| termined ''to win a battle that shall be
of lasting benefit to mankind.n That
| there is need for such course of action
| Is apparent to al who have noted from
time to time the discovery of tuber
/ culous herds in the vicinity of New
York, for example, and of other cities,
and the testimony of various authori-
| ties that the greatest danger exists from
the sale of the flesh and milk of animals
/ thus affected. The Keystone Veterina>
| rian Association held a recent meeting
/ at which the testimony OF a number of
| veterinarians to the fatal results of
drinking tuberculous milk was given.
testimony which is~especially startling
when it is recalled that within compar-
! atively q short time a Philadelphia
newspaper announced that there were
! fifty three tuberculons herds in the New
| Jersey suburbs of that city.
| But while we may well be apprehen-
/ sive of the danger thus outlined, it is
/ evident that at least equal anxiety needs
to be aroused by he threat of infection
| from human consumptiyes. 1t is in some
measure a question still unsettled as to
| the degreein which consumption is in
fictitious, and yet it will be generally
agreed that testimony to the SUPPOSE
| ton of its grave menaces is accumula-
Ting, and that we have no right to take
great risks with our present knowledge
of the character of the disease. DIR.
Lawrence T. Flick, a Philadelphia ply
stefan, has for period of twenty five
I Il,
9Th ward of that city, and as a result of
his long study declares that he is con-
vinced that fully one-half the cases of
tuberculosis among the poor classes
originate directly OF indirectly in infect>
ed houses.
A family moves into a tenement re-
Gently occupied by a consumptive, ig-
norant Of the former presence of the
disease, and the weakest among the new
corners falls victim, and becomes a
factor in the further propagation of the
lnalady. Within a few days we have
rsld of another physician whose inves-
ssIIssations of a similar characterized to an
e Hssiiy strong conviction that the dis
quiry with the greatest care, scraping
the dust from obscure portions of a
room in which a consumptive had been
quartered and then injecting particles
of the matter thus collected into GER
tain animals, with the result that they
soon became tuberculous.
In view of such testimony, it is plain
that we need to exercise the greatest
caution in individual instances, and that
the public health authorities should see
posed to be infected, are subjected to
the closest official scrutiny. DR.. Flick
declares that whenever consumptive
patient dies or is removed from house,
it should be thoroughly disinfected, the
room in which the invalid was quar-
tered should be scraped and replastered,
and care should be taken that none of
the clothing or furniture used by the
patient is given away or left for the use
of Others unless complete disinfection
is first accomplished.
Moreover, when a house has been thus
cleansed it should be so recorded at the
headquarters of the Health Department,
in order that another person desiring to
occupy it may do SO without the burden
Of anxiety or of genuine risk. 1t is, of
course, improbable that the disease can
| be transmitted to healthy person
whose system is not susceptible to its
RI no oh
with fair degree of certainty that
| there are many instances OF physical
weakness where its germs are given
Judgment with fatal consequences. 1t
should be noted that apparently the
chief if not the only danger of infec-
ton comes from dust which contains
particles of the dried discharges of the
! lungs.
An inquiry similar to that of DR.. Flick
has been conducted during the past few
months by the City Physician of Spring
| field, Massachusetts. He has invests
gated the conditions of the disease in
thickly settled portions of that city,
and while his researches are not yet fin
| lSneQ 1t is known LnaU Iuoy COTfODOiatG
the Philadelphia physicians statements.
He has searched out thehouses occupied
by consumptive patients, and by keep.
| ing track of the successive occupants is
enabled to reach conclusions similar to
those of DR.. Flick This is evidently a
most serious matter, and the natural
question is, What can be done for a bet
terment of existing conditions. A few
years hence, if the results of the inves-
LEGATIONS made up to the present time
are borne out by those of other author
tiles, it will, of course, be necessary for
State and municipal officials to increase
their watchfulness over the sanitation
of thickly settled sections especially,
and to do what they can to check the
ravages of the disease. Indeed, it would
/ seem as if sufficient testimony had been
offered already to justify apprehension
in every city, and cause the establish
lnent of special inquiry into the facts OF
the case.
A hundred thousand people every veal
die of consumption in this country, it is
said. and AS a great proportion of this