Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-09-22
4th. Cleanliness should he q narain .,

4th. Cleanliness should be a cardinal
principle. The patients hands, par
ticularly, should be kept freeouf' 'ifrfec-
ton. They should be washed 4Fesuent-
ly with soap and. water, and promptly
every time he knows they have been
soilcd with sputum. A
| 9Th. Everything which goes to the
mouth or lips of the tuberculosis per-,
son, spoons, forks, drinking cups and
tumblers, must be sterilized before
they are used by others. In his own
home, where the sterilization of the ia
bleutensils may not be so certain as
in sanatorium life, the sick one should
have his own special knife, fork, cup,
etc.
| 9Th. Children should not be allowed
to play on the floors of rooms occupied
by consumptives.
These are briefly the main points
which, in teaching the sick person or
| his family, must be emphasized and
| amplified as individual circumstances
may require.
But how can this educative work
| and this supervisory work be satisfac-
tocily carried out?
Undoubtedly it is most successfully
done in our modern sanatoriums, but
| in Maine, with it's present provisions
IN that direction, there is hardly more
| than room for one tuberculous patient
out of 100 There is ample room for
the work of all the agencies which
may be brought to bear on this prob
| lem.
A specially trained tuberculosis nurse
employed to visit, teach supervise,
| and aid the families in which there
is a case OF tuberculosis, has shown
herself to be one of the most useful
agencies. She is an important aid to
the attending physician, to the local
health officers. and to societies and
clubs engaged in anti-tuberculosis
work. This particular kind of work
was first started in Baltimore. The
III art of the very efficient nurse first
employed there was frequently touched
by the expressions of profound graft
tude, which came from even the most
ignorant families of the foreign ele-
| ment, because she had plainly made
them understand the extreme peril of
splitting around everywhere and OF
some of their other habits.
Another means which the State
Board Of-Health hoped the last Legis-
| lature might make available is this:
The constant employment of at least
ore person to visit alL~parts of the
state. and aid local societies, clubs,
| and individuals interested in the cam
paign against tuberculosis or in other
t-public health matters, his or her work
| TO be done, by means of travelling ex-
hibits, talks, Illustrated by stereopti-
| con, or otherwise. and by counsel and
| aid i'm solving local problems or in
| doing local work.
In one other direction, work should
| not be neglected as hitherto. His
| majesty, the baby, and his brother and
sister who are little elder, deserve
| more careful investigation and more
efficient safeguarding. He Is a mysti-
cal little personality. from babyhood
to school life. He has also mystihed
us doctors. We know that I'D is very
| susceptible to tuberculous infection,
| ard that with him tuberculous aftec-
tions of the glandular system. the
| bones, the brain, and perhaps of the
| intestinal tract, are common, but now
it is developing that these cases con-
stitute only small percentage of the
tui,erculous diseases of childhood.
| In a paper before the International
Congress on Tuberculosis in Washing
| tor last fall, DR.. Wollsten, patholo-
| gisd to the Babies Hospital of New
| York, found, in 1871 autopsies, that pri-
! mary intestinal tuberculosis was COM
paratively rare, in that series OF In
fants and children, urder three years
Of age. and that, even when due al
| lowaace has been made for all doubt
full cases, tuberculosis of the respira-
tory organs predomipated over that
due to ingcstion of the bacilli.
| In q paper OH the same subject, on
the same occasion, Drs. Cleveland.
Floyd and Henry Y. BoWditch of Bos-
| ron, reported that in their study Of
| 1000 children 1t appears that, whatever
the mode Of entrance might have been,
probably direct transmission of the
disease from parent to child was a
| most Important factor. Among 679
children taken from the poorest homes
Of Boston, in which 479 contained liv-
ing consumptives. and. in 179 more Of
which tnere had been recent deaths
from the disease, there were definite
signs Of pulmonary involvement in SO
per cent. More than 66 per cent. Of
the entire number showed symptoms
Of the disease.
1t was only few years ago that
the percentage Of cases in which the
lungs were found involved ranged from
to 2 per cent. up to or per cent,
bHt now Kessel records as high as Q;
per cent of primary LESSONS Adams
of the Washington Hospital, gives %
per cent. of lung and oeoEchial in.
volVement, while in Hollis 119 cases
after three years, the lungs were. at,
! Continued on Page Een.a s.a4rl