The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1908-11-26
GREAT WHITE PLAGUE
DR.. Kline Discusses Cause and Cure
of Tuberculosis.

Dr. Kline, of Boulder Lodge Sanitor'
ium for Consumption at Fort Dodge,
met with the County Medical Society
Tuesday afternoon. The meeting was
we'll attended and the lecture we'll re-
ceived.
In the evening Dr. Kline addressed
small but appreciative audience at
the court house on tuberculosis and
| its relation to the home and state. 1t
was somewhat OF disappointment
that greater interest is not manifest in
a subject of such vital interest to the
community as tuberculosis. The DIR.
gave the results of census recently
taken in Iowa which showed that 49,
900 persons are suffering from tuber-
culosis in this state. This census dis
closed another remarkable fact which
was readily understood in view of the
nature at this malady, 1t was shown
percentage of men afflicted with the
disease was far in excess of the wom-
en- so afflicted in Iowa the reverse
was true and of the 10000 suffering
with the disease in this state, over
5000, or about two-fifths, were women.
tuberculosis is a mouse disease. Sun
shine and open air are its foes, In
Iowa. which is an agricultural state
without large cities, the men work out
of doors in the open, while the women
are shut in at their household duties.
Another fact stands out prominently
in evidence of this fact, that tuDercu-
losis is a house disease. Range cattle
or our own scrub cattle that we do not
care enough for to shut in warm sta
bles rarely or never have tuberculo-
sis, while our high bred cattle that are
housed up and kept in warm, ill-yenti-
lated stables, are almost all affected.
Our men and our scrub cattle that live
in the open seldom have tuberculosis,
while our women and our fine Jerseys
whom we house up have it in its worst
forms.
The Doctor also called attention to
the question which has been raised
by the eminent authority, Professor
Koch, as to the transmissibifity of bo-
and stated a fact konwn to all med
icau men, that Koch did not deny the
fact of transmissibility of the disease
from animals to human beings, but
only claimed that it was so rare as not
to greatly concern us. He also quot
ed Won Behring, another eminent au-
thoTity, the discoverer of diphtheria
antitoxin, who claimed that all human
tuberculosis was of bovine origin.
The Doctor thought that somewhere
between these two extremes lay the
truth. He said it was the veriest of
folly to claim. in view OF the well
known facts, that guinea pigs, rabbits,
swine, monkeys, in fact, every other
animal in the world that has tubercu-
losis at all, is more susceptible to .bo-
vine tuberculosis than to human tu-
berculosis as has been proven times
without number in the laboratories
In view of such facts it was folly, he
said, to contend that man alone of all
animals was immune to bovine tuber-
culosis. and Koch himself only be-
heves that it doesn't occur often.
He spoke with approval of the eff
forts being waged all over the nation
toward the enactment of ordinances
demanding that the dairy herds fur
nishing milk for human consumption
be tuberculosis free, and deplored the
shortsightedness of these men who
were attempting to stay the wheels Of
progress by opposing such measures.
He said their efforts were futile be-
cause an awakened public opinion
would demand it and it must come.
He said that regardless Of whether bo-
vine tuberculosis was transmitted to
humans or not, these COWS are sick
cows and we are not going to allow
the milk from sick COWS to be fed to
our babes and children. A sick COW
was a sick COW, whether she had tu-
berculosis or puerpural fever or some
thing else, and that 1t would seem
that it would be hard to find men so
heartless as to wish to jeopardize the
lllt vi lllHOCtul IMAM
expend the few dollars necessary. TO
the testing of their herds, but they
did not seem to look at it in the right
light.
He also called attention to the in
falhbility of the tuberculin test for tu-
berculosis in cattle, and mentioned the
facts that every single animal tested
at the state institutions at Independ-
ence and Mount Pleasant which react
ed to the tuberculin test, when slaugh.
tered at Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids,
showed conclusively the presence of
the disease. He also mentioned the
interesting fact that it. was not by di'
rect contamination of the milk that
these cows were dangerous. The milk
might be perfectly pure as 1t came
| from the COW II the leasion did not ex'
list in the udder, but it was physical
limpossibility to keep that milk from
being contaminated by the dirt, dust
and manure of the barns In which the
cows are kept A COW coughs but she
does not expectorae. She swallows
her expectoration and therefore the
manure of COW barn Is teeming with
tubercle baccila. A. COW lies in hel