Iditarod pioneer., 1914-06-20
SAYS TUBERCULOSIS IS
 NOT AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE

The statement of one of the country's | leading medical authorities on tuberculosis to the effect that there is very little danger | from infection of this disease, will come as 1 a matter of extreme qualification to many sensible men, both in and out of the pro i fcsson. who have long depIored the excited condition of the public mind on this sub | ject. The gentleman who makes this com forting statement is Dr. E. R Baldwin of | Saranac lake, who Is a recognized specialist, and his assurances lose nothing of their value because they are referred to edItori- ally, and with approval by the Journal of the American Medical Association,
 Dr. Baldwins conclusion is that "adults are very little endangered by close contact with open tuberculosis, and not at all in ordinary association" and he further says: 1 "QuaHfy these statements as we may, it Is time for a reaction against the extreme ideas of infection now prevailing. There has been too much read into popular liter ature by health boards and lectures that has no sound basis in facts, and it needs to be dropped out or revised.' He be- l leves that 'the preachments about the dan ger of infection to adults in the present state of society are without justification from all experimental standpoint"
 To all of which the Journal of the Ameri- can Medical Association adds that these statements represent not one mans views. but what seems to be the growing convic- fion of the most progressive and thoughtful students of tuberculosis at the present time"
 It is fortunate that the disclosures re garding the non-infectous nature of tuber- culosis should come with the authority of one who Is accounted a specialist on the subject, and that it should be vouched for by so high a medical authority as the Jour nal of the American Medical Association l since now there will be less room for skep- ! ticism and less opportunity for dissent. The medical journal referred to calls the preva- lent attitude of the public thought on the subject by the appropriate if difficult title, "Phthisiophobia" and comments Dr. Bald wins advice to apply check to this mania. Those who have observed the campaign u'aged by certain portions of the medical profession will hardly care to deny that it has resulted in a deplorable hysteria which has not done the country any good Earnest men and women have been beguiled by specous arguments of humanitarlanism into lending their aid to a publicity cam paien that was ostensibly intended to warn the public against the ravages of the disease but which has served only to spread in the thought and hearts of hundreds of thou sands a paralyzing fear that never should have been created,
 Members of state legislatures have been impressed in many instances by the dra- matic and highly colored accounts of the dangers of tuberculosis, furnished by over jealous advocates of radical oppressive measures. This has sometimes resulted in proposals to appropriate large ums of the public money to build tuberculosis hospi- tals Under the spur of what now proves to be an unwarranted fear, lawmakers have been urged to pledge the state to un- | thoughtof expenses, in order to treat all who might be thus afflicted.
 It has even been proposed to enact legis laton which would clearly be unconstitu tonal. It has been proposed to give to state boards of health unlimited authority to enter the home and forcibly remove tu- berculosis patients to state hospitals, where compulsory treatment would be admins cred All of which has been justified by the advocates of these drastic measures on the grounds that the danger of infection was so great as to demand such action.
 Now that the medical profession has modified its view about tuberculosis and its menace to the public health as a trans misslble disease, perhaps the revelation, or confession, whichever it may be, has come in time to save a good many heartaches and further spreading of the facilitating fear which has hitherto accompanied the publicity campaign. Perhaps, also, the law makers, who have been stirred to unwonted depths of benevolent desire to guard the public health may conclude that great ex- penditures of the state money to protect citizens from disease that has no serious