Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1911-12-21

The following leaf1et Tor Ieacners WIS
written by DR. H. s. Goodwill, Superin-
tendent of Stony Void Sanatorium, near
Saranac Lake, N. Y. 1t is a review OF
what has been said and contains many
very reliable points for parents and teach
ers. Next week this article will be con-
tinued.
tuberculosis is one of the oldest, most
common, and most destructive diseases.
One-tenth or more of all deaths are
caused by it. 1t is at the same time the
most durable of all diseases. Its cause
is the tubercle bacillus, discovered by
Prof. Koch in 1882.
This bacillus is minute form of plant
life, rod-shaped, motionless, living and
able to multiply with great rapidity by
dividing into two again and again. Out
side the body these bacilli do not multi
ply. They are killed by direct sunlight,
fresh air, and other agencies. Direct
sunlight kills them in short time. Fresh
air kills them slowly. in proportion to the
degree of light and air. Rain dissolves
the sputum and exposes the bacilli to the
sun and air. Boiling for half an hour
will kill the bacilli, and if sputum is in
small particles shorter time will do.
Five per cent solution carbolic acid mixed
with equal volume of sputum will disin-
feet in twenty-four hours II occasionally
stirred. 1t destroys bacilli in thin smears
of sputum quite quickly. Intense cold
does not injure tubercle bacilli. In a
dark, damp room they may live for
months, while in room with open win
dows and strong light they do not live
many days.
Tubercle bacilli cannot be identified I'M
i less stained in certain way. Then they
look, through microscope, like bits of
red silk thread or like rows of little red
beads. They are from lilo, 900 to Id, 600
of an inch long and about Is to Ia as
wide. Over Is, 900, 600 could be placed in
a single layer on two-cent postage
stamp. Flies carry tubercle bacilli about
if they get at any sputum, and 5000
bacilli have been found in one fly speck.
Tubercle baclli enter the body chiefly
with dust in the air we breathe, on the
food we eat, through tubercular milk or
meat; less often by kissing and through
wounds in the skin. If breathed in, the
bacili may 60 at once to the lungs and
cause disease, or they may be swallowed
with the mucus from the throat and en-
ter the stomach and bowels. They may
then, like bacilii taken in with food, pass
: with the products of digestion into the
circulation. to lodge in the lungs or else
where. They may cause local disease of
the digestive organs. The bacilii in sput-
um which is swallowed may thus cause
new centers of disease. Food exposed
to dust and flies or handled by unclean
tubercular persons may carry tubercle
bacilli. Having entered the system the
bacilli may be destroyed if the person is
healthy; they may multiply and cause
tuberculosis: or they may lie dormant
for long periods, until the persons phys
zeal condition becomes suitable for their
growth.
The tubercle bacillus found in man and
that found in cattle and other animals
are the same for all practical purposes,
although differing in minor details.
Tubercle bacilli from one creature may
produce tuberculosis in any other crea-
| lure.
tuberculosis is communicable like ty-
phoid fever, but not infectious like scar
let fever. The bacilli are thrown out of
the body in the discharges coming from
the diseased region, the pus from glands
or bones, the sputum from the lungs OF
throat. Sputum contains great numbers
of bacilli; the pus not so many. Sputum
carelessly scattered by tuberculous peo-
pie causes the vast majority of cases of
tuberculosis. 1ubercular milk and meat
cause a small portion and should be
guarded against by maintaining and ex-
tending the official inspection of milk and
meat.
The germs from consumptive are
carried by the sputum, not by the breath.
The breath itself is harmless. II sputum
be carelessly allowed to scatter it dries,
becomes powdered and mingled with the
dust, and the bacilli are then inhaled by
some one or hey settle on the food and
thus enter the digestive tract. If one
pectora tes upon the sidewalk or in a
car, some one carries part of the sputum
on his shoes or clothes into the house,
where it will be inhaled. Dry sputum
flies about and is very dangerous. Wet
sputum clings where it lies and is not
as dangerous. Wet sputum in cup is
perfectly safe so long as it is not spilled
and is protected from the flies The per-
son who uses sputum box is safe; the
one who spits on the floor is dangerous
and should be ostracized. Putting pins,
pencils, hairpins, or fingers into the
mouth is liable to scatter bacilli about.
1t is dangerous to swap gum, or to eat
apples, ETC., that another has bitten.
In rare cases actual tuberculosis may
be directly inherited. An inability to re-
sist this disease, a predisposition, may
be inherited from parents who have
tuberculosis or who from any cause are
weak or unhealthy. Generally, however,
the extension of tuberculosis throughout
family is due to the transfer of bacilli
from one member to another through
improper care of the sputum.