Evening star., 1914-05-18
District Health Department, in
Report, Shows Need Of Sup
pressing tuberculosis.
SICKNESS AND DEATHS
DISCUSSED AT LENGTH
Mortality Rate Is Decreasing and
Average Length of Lives Is
on the Increase.

iumbia is emphasized in the annual re-
port of the District health department,
submitted to the Commissioners today
Prepared under direction of Health Of
ticer William c. Woodward and Dr. John
l.. Norris. assistant health officer, the
report which is for the fiscal year that
ended June 30 last. is an elaborate ac-
count of the activities of the department
during that period.
tuberculosis as it is found both in man
and in animals is discussed at length.
campaign against this disease should be
organized as a public health measure
and not as method of relieving the sick.
il is stated. 1t is pointed out that the
District at present does practically no
educational work along this line.
Facilities for Treatment Urged.
Facilities for the diagnosis and the
treatment of incipient cases of tuber-
culosis, available at hours adapted to
the needs of the ordinary workingman,
should be established the report
recommends Existing hospital facili-
ties should be made open to persons in
moderate circumstances, and adapted
TO the needs of such persons: they
should not be limited to the destitute.
as at present
Some method should be provided
whereby persons of moderate means de-
string to take the cure in their own
homes could be assisted. and adequate
provision should be made for the
treatment in Il sanatorium of poor per-
sons and of persons of moderate means,
in the early stages of the disease.
Unless some such systematic attack
is made the elimination of tuberculosis
will he a much slower process than is
desirable, and there will be much un-
necessary suffering and many avoidable
deaths. Private philanthropy is utterly
Il l., %I0 ftnx, Nd
moreover. there is no reason why pri-
vate philanthropy should be relied
upon for the elimination of tubercu-
losis from the community than for the
elimination of any other dangerous
communicable disease, such as small
pox. scarlet fever. diphtheria or others
that might be named
Prevalent Among Negroes.
The report shows that tuberculosis in
the District during the last fiscal year
was much more prevalent among the col
ored than the white population. The case
rate for reportable forms per 100000 in
habitants was for the white, 223 and for
the colored 643 The death rate from all
forms of tuberculosis was for the white
1S3, and for the colored J4; and from
pulmonary tuberculosis alone for the
white. 100 and for the colored. 1876
Referring to its efforts to eradicate
bovine tuberculosis from the District of
Columbia the department states that, al
though not all the dairy cattle in the
jurisdiction were tested during the year.
the results show a decided decrease in
the number of positive cases of tubercu-
losis found. as revealed by the first gen.
eral tuberculin test applied during the
year 1910 Nine hundred and Sixty-f1ve
cattle were tested it is stated and only
twenty-five. or 2.59 per cent. reacted. In
1910 1887 per cent of the animals tested
reacted.
Results obtained in the medical and
schools are presented in detail in the re-
port. 1t is suggested that there three
urgent needs connected with this service
a supervising inspector, school nurses
and an increase in the number of medical
and dental inspectors.
For the effective control of the Dis
trict's milk supply, the department rec
ommends employment of an additional
assistant bacteriologist and an appropria-
tion for additional apparatus.
- Way to Protect Milk Supply.
'If the health department were thus
equipped states the report. '-it would
he possible to send this assistant bac-
tcriologist into the districts where the
milk supply of the District of Columbia
is actually produced and to demonstrate
to producers just what the bacterial
count means and how it may be low
ered. Incidentally. with competent
bacterioIoeist properly instructed with
respect to the economics of the dairy
industry. as graduates of good dairy
schools are apt to be. much could be
done TO help the farmer into more profit
able methods and to establish better
understanding between the farmer and
the health department..
y busy year was experienced by the
pound. according to the report. In all,
9.I:r6 animals Were impounded. OF this
number :;.61I We're dogs, 5.132 cats and
horses, while a single goat was added To
the collection. OF the dogs captured
::11:: Were killed All the cats collected
We're killed.
That there is general tendency down
ward in the Districts death rate is shown
b. the report Deaths among white per-
sons during 1gl2-13 numbered 1896, while
tine corresponding death rate was 14.1S.
During the preceding year the rate was
14S
among colored persons deaths num-
bcred 2,653, while the death rate was
26sS. the corresponding rate for the
preceding year having been 2612. The
decrease in the general death rate last
year was therefore due to the decrease
IN the rate among white persons.