Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1911-12-15
TUBERCULOSIS IN WISCONSIN, THE
FORCES BATTLING AGAINST IT, AND
THE CHRISTMAS SEAL MOVEMENT

AS the examining physician for tn,
Wisconsin State tuberculosis Sanatori
um at Wales, Wisconsin, for WatertowI
and vicinity, and a member of the Wis
consin Anti-TuberculOsis Association
eager to see our city make good show
ing in the sale of the Christmas Seal,
will, toward that end, give readers tn,
| following descriptive data relative tt
tuberculosis in Wisconsin and Ou
means Of fighting "The Great White
Plague"
TOLL OF THE WHITE PLAGUE.
| In the United States two hundred
thousand people die annually from tn
herculosis, Europe loses one million
while the annual rate for the world il
one million five hundred thousand. The
yearly economic loss in the United
States, taking into account disability
and loss of life alone, is cOnseryatively
estimated at upward of three hundred
million dollars.
There are about 1900 living cases OF
tuberculosis in Wisconsin at the present
time, one in every 18O people of the
state. That is more than there are
cases of typhoid fever, scarlet fever
smallpox, and several other diseases
combined.
Two thousand five hundred people die
from it every syear, entailing loss oil
to the state conservatively estimated al
$2O,OOCoOO.
One hundred eighty-six people died
last year in Marinette, city Of 14,6OO
They died Of thirty-six causes, and tu
berculosis is second with twenty deaths
Pneumonia alone claimed more. That
means that every ninth person who dice
was victim of tuber ,ulosis. Pneumon
ia, you know, most frequently attacks
the very young, before the little bodies
have acquired resistance, and the very
old, who, through natural progress, mus
soon pass away. Consumption takes it,
victims in the best and most promising
years, 18 to 35. Again, the indirec
causes of pneumonia are largely those O.
tuberculosis. With tuberculosis wiped
out, the pneumonia rate will drop tire
mendOusly.
The average annual death rate,f from
the white plague in this state is 10.7 pc
10000 people.
There are fully as many cases to b
found in the country as in the ity, con-
trary to the general idea. This is due t
/, poorly ventilated rooms in the houses
neigborhood cOntagion, lack of pr0pe
nourishment, etc.
In 1903 Governor La Toilette appoint
ed the state tuberculosis commission
| which recommended, On investigation
| the erection andsmaintenance of stat
| tuberculosis sanitorium. This led to th
erection of the Wales Sanatorium
| Wales, Wisconsin, which was Opene,
four years ago last month-Novembe
1907.
The benefits accomplished by the treat
ment of tuberculosis at the state tuber
culosis sanatorium at Wales are we'll il
lustrated in the recent report from tina
institution. The report shows about Z
per cent. of the patients treated In al
stages of the disease are improved, an
that As per cent. of the incipient suffer
ers are discharged apparently cured.
The report, dating from the openin!
day of the Wales Sanatorium, to Septen
Der 80, 1911, shows that 665 patient
have been treated, 95 of whom RENAME
less than one month. Of the $40 t
which complete treatment has been ad
i ministered, 48 were received during th
fiscal year closing June 30, 1908, 307 fC
the fiscal years 1909-19i0, and 215 froI
July 1, 1910 to September 90 1911. c
this $40, one hundred thirteen or 20 pc
cent. were incipient sufferers, 368 or
per cent. were moderately advance,
and in SO or Is percent. of the cases, tf
disease was far advanced. A very Ell
couraging feature of the work was thl
of patients received at the sanatoriul
during the incipient stages, not Oh
death has occurred.
The mortality of those received iu th