Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-10
LUNGHPERTSTOMEET
Arrangements for Gathering
ID Washington.
PLAN GREAT CAMPAIGN
III Il
DREAD DISEASE TO BE DISCUSSED
MALL IT'S PHASES.
Contagion Believed to Be Preventable
and Work Will Be Conducted
on This Line.
PLAN GREAT CAMPAIGN

Arrangements are being perfected for the
meeting of the National Association for the
Study and Prevention of tuberculosis to be
held in this city May IS and 49,
1t is purposed to plan a campaign TO TIC
the United States of consumption, II pos
sible.
This meeting means much for the future
Of the country. Here and there local So
cieties have undertaken to grapple with
the tuberculosis problem, state and city
health boards have fought the devastatinf
plague with more or less vigor and prl-
vate philanthropy has assisted in the battle
in no small measure, but not until now mas
there been an authoritative national body,
composed of Americas most distinguished
experts-such men as Drs. Osler, Trudeau,
Biggs, Bowditch, Sternberg and Fnck-to
wage a relentless war on the tubercie pa
cilus in every part of the land. These leau,
ers, with scores of other physicians ana
laymen of exceptional training and infiu-
ence, have Joined forces to take up the tu-
berculosis problem in all it's aspects-soclo-
logical, pathological and bacterlologicai'
clinical and Genealogical.
Pulmonary tuberculosis, or consumption
of the lungs, now costs more than one nun
dred thousand lives and q money loss OF
millions of dollars every year in the United
States, and the leaders of the national
movement for its eradication realize, that
their task Is no small one. Yet the most
conservative among them agree that the
disease can be controlled and in the course
of time virtually stamped out. ms Is
their aim.
Will Talk of Climate.
Climate and it's relation to the cure of
tuberculosis will most likely provoke
lively discussion. Dr. Lawrence T. Flick,
head of the Henry Phipps Institute of Phil
adelphia, has repeatedly expressed the opin-
ion bat oil ha cfic3llV nothing to
do with the cure of consumption; that the
patient can be cured as well in New York
city as in Colorado, California or any other
such resort. While admitting the posi-
blity of cure in New York or Chicago,
physicians of equal standing with DR.. Flick
declare emphatically that the chances of
cure are by no means the same.
Efforts to arrive at a uniform nomencla-
ture are also sure to be followed by much
talk. At present what one physician desig
another may call advanced or even far
advanced" The same holds true of i'm
proved, apparently cured and cured"
The use of different classifications and in
some instances the different Interpretation
of the same classification render any COM
parson of RESULTS obtained a difficult mat
ter. Even If the national association is
able to arrive at a satisfactory settlement
of this trouble it is probable that the va
rious sanitarums will adopt uniform no
menclature. -----~-- s~--
In organizing the campaign against tu-
berculosis suggestions along these lines will
be discussed and action taken upon them:
An early and accurate diagnosis; compui-
sorry notification of all cases; the formation
of anti-tuberculosis, societies in every city
and village of the United States, If possible,
to cooperate with the national association;
more hospitals and sanitariums for both
iueipient and advanced cases; an educa-
tonal campaign by means of pamphlets,
newspaper articles and also by having dis
n iaf,t ", fhnfr hov,
disinfection of all rooms vacated by con-
sumptives; more free dispensaries where
the poor may obtain not only medical ad-
vice and medicines, but also suitable food:
the strict enforcement of ordinances pro-
hibiting splitting in public places; the
wholesale condemnation of insanitary
streets and blocks
Importance of Diagnosis.
An early diagnosis is regarded by the lead
ing specialists as probably the most essen
tial feature Of a successful crusade against
consumption. Precious time is often
wasted by the general practitioner failing
to make a thorough examination at the
start and the patient is allowed to run
from an "incipient'' case, which might
readily have been cured, to an 'advanced'
or "far advanced stage, with the chance
Of recovery very slim. Greater attention
to diagnosis will therefore be strongly
urged at the coming congress.
On the question of compulsory notification
physicians are divided, but they all agree
as to its value. Those in favor of compul-
sorry notification declare that without it the
enforcement of any uniform measure for
prevention is impossible. They will
strongly recommend that every state pass
a compulsory notification law, but not such
law as relates to smallpox and diph-
iberia. 1t is not the intention of the con-
gress to recommend any legislation that
will subject consumptives to any unpleas-
ant publicity.
1t has already been demonstrated that of
all the more important infectious diseases
tuberculosis is the most preventable. With
the vigorous campaign the national asso-
citation proposes to wage throughout the
land there is every reason to believe, spe-
cialists say, that the dread scourge will
soon be under control and Ultimately
stamped out.