The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-10-29

no longer the scourge Of the human
race that 1t used to be. In point of
fact it is the rarest thing to meet a
person now marked with smallpox,
fifty years ago it was quite a common
thing, hundred years ago the propo-
sition of people so marked was enor-
nous, while the death rate from it
was frightful.
In this Territory the spread of tub
erculosis has been very rapid. We do
not know fully how rapid, because we
have no statistics outside of Honolulu.
But we know how much it has increas-
ed here. Unless some organized fight
is made, it will continue to increase
more rapidly STILL because each person
attacked becomes a center from which
further cases will spring. Fortunate
ly there is much that can be done to
check the inroads, and probably to
eradicate them.
Medical men, are now extremely
confident of their ability to cope with
tuberculosis if it can be seen in time.
The sanitarium treatment of the dis
case has been very successful, and
doctors have begun to realize that not
drugs and charge of climate, but fresh
air, good food, freedom from care and
the constant encouragement and di-
rection of a medical adviser are the
important elements in the treatment
of the disease.
In the recent medical congress held
in Paris. the subject of tuberculosis
was fully discussed. 1t was pointed
out that an early dignosis is most i'm
portant, and there have been great
advances in the ability to do this. 1t
is a case of the stitch in time.
In one communication it was pointed
out that the general family history
might give valuable hints. Just as
soon as the tubercle bacillus begins
to grow in the human body, it COM
mences TO elaborate toxins that get
into the general circulation. These are
especially liable to affect any organ
within the body that is not up to the
normal standard of health. If, for in
stance, the patient comes of a family
of dyspeptics then the stomach is
likely to be affected early; if of a
rheumatic family, then joint symp-
toms will he observed.
Attention to the family history, then,
may enable the practitioner to suspect
the preliminary stages of tuberculosis
long before any physical signs would
furnish sufficient grounds for a dag
nosis. The Roentgen rays are of some
service, too, but there was a new me-
thod presented at this congress that
promises to make the diagnosis of tub
erculosis in its earliest stages a simple
procedure.
The method suggested is precisely
the same as that used at present for
the assured recognition of typhoid
fever. If a drop of the blood of a
typhoid patient be added to a culture
of typhoid bacilli, it causes the bacilli
to become massed together, to become
agglutinated. The blood of a person
who either has not or has not had
typhoid viii not cause this reaction to
take place. Professor Arloing. of Mar
settles, has discovered that a similar
reaction takes place if the blood of
tuberculous patient be added to a
liquid culture of tubercle bacilli Early
diagnosis then becomes easy If tub
erculosis can be discovered with GER
tainty in it's incipient stages, it's cure
is comparatively simple.
Armed with the knowledge the ply
stefan will be able to know for GER
tain. and not have to guess, until
guessing is too late and fatal certainty
is reached by the disease becoming
fully developed. If this fact is true
the war against tuberculosis can be
carried on with hope for complete sue
cess.