The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1910-08-19
Health Bulletin.
Estate Board Of Health.l

dred thousand people are kllleo
each year in the United States
from tuberculosis. One death out
of every seven the world oyer is
due to this disease. Between the
ages of fifteen and forty-five
years, one third of all deaths are
caused by consumption.
From the ages of twenty to
thirty-five one half of all deaths
is the result of this scourge OF
mankind. Unfortunately this di-
sease most often attacks one dur
ing the most productive period
of life, between the ages OF
twenty to forty five, the time
when a person could be of most
use to his family and of greatest
service to his fellow man. When
person is told that an individual
dies every two and a half min
utes during the day and night
from the ravages of this disease
it would seem that the fight
which is being waged against
tuberculosis would enlist the
interest and aid of every patriot
ic citizen, and yet these state
ments so frequently make no
impression. An abstract idea
leaves no image on the average
mind; but when several men,
bers of the family of your next
door neighbor dies of consump
ton it causes one to think, and
one gets an insight to the depth
of human sorrow and realizes as
never before the value of human
life. What would this experience
mean to you when it is known
that by the proper precautions 1t
could have been prevented?
There are values in life that
mean infinitely more than dollars
and cents and one will do well
to stop for a few moments to
consider now to protect himself
and members Of his household
against disease which deals out
its merciless blows without warn
ing or favor.
1t was not until 1882 that the
real cause of consumption was
discovered. In that year Robert
Koch, a distinguished German
scientist, announced that it was
due to an organism which is
called the Germ Of Consump-
tion," or the Bacillus of Tuber-
culosis." The germ is so small
that it can be seen only by the
use of the microscope. 1t is a
tiny, rod-shaped plant which
grows best in warm, moist, dark
places. 1t may get into the body
through wound in the skin,
the food that is eaten, or the air
that is breathed into the lungs.
When breathed into the lungs on
finding suitable soil it grows
and multiplies with rapidity. AS
they multiply a poison is secret
ed which causes the living tissue
about them to harden into a mo-
I, dule or tubercle which in time,
varying with circumstances,
softens and breaks down. In
this way the lungs are gradually
destroyed and the person pre-
sents the sickly picture of con-
sumption.
The germ may get into the
glands OF the neck or attack the
throat. bowels, kidney, blain,
bones, joints, and practically any
part of the body. But it more
often lodges in the air passages
of the lungs. 1t has no respect
| for age, race, sex or class. 1t
| was at one time thought to be in
herited but this idea is false and
should be dropped. 1t is true, a
person may have weak lungs
Just as he may have weak eyes.
This would be a predisposing fac
tor towards the disease. And ir
living under improper conditions
such as bad air, filth, poor fooe
uadue exposure and irregular
habits, the disease may be readi
ly contracted. Where Who'll,
families haze consumption it ha
been shown by careful investiga
ton to be due to infection, on
from the other.
It is a fact that the germs o