The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1909-01-28
IS COSTLY.
Report of State Health Depart.
ment Shows Loss to State
From tuberculosis
CLAIM DISEASE UNNECESSARY

eff we may accept the statement
that every year human life is worth
to the state $4,000, the seven thousand
lives which are sacrificed annually in
Wisconsin from preventable diseases,
represents a loss to the state of
$35, 100000"
This is the statement from the report
of the State Board Of Health just is
sued. The announcement further de-
clares that if only very small per
cent Eof this stupendous sum were
available to collect accurate statistics
OF disease and call the attention Of the
people to the dangers to which they
are needlessly exposed, practically all
of this great loss in human life would
be eliminated. +"
pproximately thirty per cent of the
total annual deaths is in this state, ac-
cording to the report, might have been
prevented had the people been fully
conscious of the causes that produced
them and the dangers to which they
are needlessly exposed. The loss of
material wealth from various causes is
indeed appalling, "but if we consider
the annual loss in human life from pre-
ventable causes, it is practically i'm
possible to place a proper estimate up
on the value of lives which are thus
needlessly sacrificed.
"One of the principal causes of death
is tuberculosis. From this source, 3,779
were registered from january /, 1907
to September 80, 1907. This is nine
per cent Of the total death from all
causes. Arranging the deaths accord
ing to nativity, s74 were native born
of native parents, 1870 were native
born with one or both parents foreign
and 1,066 were foreign born. CLASH
fed according to age the statistics show
1,042 occurred to people between the
ages Of 20 and 20 years. From that
time to 70 years old there is a gradual
decline.
Experiments conducted in both this
country and Europe show that the
bovine type of the disease is more
virulent than the human type and if
introduced into the human body it is
only fair to presume that the disease
would be more marked" declares the
report. "Of the 469 deaths from tu-
berculosis not pulmonary, more than 80
per cent show that the infection was
in the digestive tract. This would
point to an infected milk supply, since
that in about SO per cent of the cases
the decedents were young children,
whose principal diet is milk
That the disease can and will be
eradicated from this state need not be
doubted. In New York city, where an
educational campaign was started if
teen years ago, the mortality from tu-
berculosis has been reduced 35 per cent.
However, we can never hope to effectu-
ally combat the disease in this state
until we have a provision insuring ac-
curate reports of all cases and deaths
in each township, village and city.
Little progress will be made in stamp
ing out tuberculosis in state as large
as Wisconsin until we concentrate our
efforts in the localities where the di-
sease is the most prevalent. Learn the
probable sources OF infection and then
insist that they be removed or properly
restricted. This information is desired,
not for the purpose of giving publicity
as to the extent Of the disease, of it's
presence in any particular home or
factory, but to provide a means for
reaching each and every case with in
structions and advice, not for the suf-
ferers themselves, but for the protec-
ton of those with whom they are asso-
ciated."