The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-03-26
What Is
tuberculosis ?

,
growth in the body of millions of
little rod-shaped germs called "tu-
bercle bacili," because as they null
t1ply they produce small Jumps or
"tubercles. !" The germs are really
tiny plant-like parasites, SO small
that they must be magnifed hum
dreds of times under a powerful
microscope before one can see them
at all.
Being a parasite, the germ of tu-
berculosis, like the mistletoe or
fungus growth must live by taking
life from something else, and on
this account it lives in the body of
human beings or animals better
than anywhere else, in the eye, the
skin, the knee or the spine, and
the other organs of breathing.
Outside of the body, the germs
of tuberculosis may be easily killed
if they are exposed TO direct sun
light for a few hours. Moist heat
at l45 F., boiling water, or strong
alkaline soaps, washing soda and
similar household cleansing solu-
tions will also kill them. If un
disturbed, the germs of tuberculo-
sis may live outside of the body in
warm, moist, dark places, such as
corners of rooms and Railways, for
months or even years.
Because of the careless habits of
people who have consumption and
others, the germs of the disease are
everywhere. Everytime a person
who has the bacili in his sputum
spits on the floor, sidewalk or in
any other exposed place, the germs
Ivy the billions may become dry,
and when stirred up by broom or
current of air may be inhaled by
the chance passerby. A speck of
dust, such as one sees in the sun
light, mey be the resting place of
hundreds of these tiny germs. ON
this account nearly everybody at
some time or other breathes in the
living germs of tuberculosis.
Why then doesn't everyone die
of tuberculosis? Because the germs
of tuberculosis in the body cannot
grow, unless they find certain it's
sues that are week, habby, or, os
it is called, "non-resistant." Ev-
eryone has a certain normal resis-
tance to tuberculosis. If this re-
sistance is lowered for any 1easop,
the germs, which are almost al
ways present in the body, will
quickly find some tissue n
which they can grow, and thus
the disease is started. 1t takes
more than the presence of the germ
in the body to cause tuberculosis.
1t needs also lowered vitality that
will give the germ chance to
grow 1t is like the seed and the
soil. The scaley parasite that ruins
rosebush frequently comes from
poorly nourished soil. The tu-
bercle bacillus is the seed; the body
is the soil. If the soil is allowed
to use its normal and natural fer.
tility, the seed will produce disease.
If the soil is kept up to it's full
strength, this parasite seed cannot
grow, and no tuberculosis will de-
} velop.
Once the germ begins to grow in
the body, they produce injury to it
in two ways:
% They destroy tissues. The
destruction in the lung, for exam
pie, may amount to a very small
spot, or it may be large cavity,
and not infrequently an entire lung.
The sooner the disease is discovered
the smaller will be the amount of
tissue destroyed, as a general rule.
| CD The growing germ, while
it destroyes the body tissues upon
which it lives, also produces GER
tain poisons or xins which, in
turn, cause most of the symtoms
of the disease. Thus, while the
germs may be active in the lnpgs,
the poison which they throw off
goes through the entire system.
The commonest early symptoms
of consumption are:
| % Persistent cough or cold
lasting month or longer; (2) Loss
of weight and appetite; (3) Run
down feeling; (4) Afternoon tenn
perature; 60 Night sweats; and
| co. Splitting of blood or streaks of
blood in sputum.