Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1921-12-23
STATISTICS ON
OCCUPATION AND
TUBERCULOSIS

tuberculosis has often been called
"the disease which kills producers"
for one-third of all persons who die
between the ages Of ID and 10 are
! the victims of this prevent
able disease. There are today at
least a million cases of active tuber-
culosis in the country and 1t has been
estimated that at least 20 per cent OF
these are at the age period when they
are the country's wage-earners. They
are industrial workers engaged IN a
diversity of occupations.
That certain occupations are more
harmful than others will be accepted
as an obvious fact. For instance, IN
dustries where dust is a necessary ac-
compartment of the work, such as
potteries, textile factories, mines and
quarries are more injurious than oc-
equations where workers are exposed
To wind and weather with q freedom
| from dust. Coal dust, however, APP
parently has no bad fleet. Among
coal miners in Pennsylvania, only
one-third as many cases of tubercu-
losis appear as among other persons
| in the same locality. Limestone dust
also is less harmful. The most dan
gerous dust is that which contains
| sharp pointed mineral particles, as,
| for example, that which is thrown off
in marble quarries. These irritate the
| tissues in the air passages of the
/ lungs, embed themselves In the
glands and often couse inflamma-
| ton. Such condition is conducive
to infection by tubercle bacilli. Dust
containing silicon is the most likely
to cause trouble. Flint, slate, iron,
tin and dead dusts are all dangerous.
OF the trades that show high NOR
i tally, there are grinders and tool
1 makers, printers, stone cutters, weav-
ers, spinners and wooden workers,
garment workers and furriers.
DIR. Louis | Dublin in report to
the United States Department of La
Dor, has worked out this matter of
i deaths as related to specific occupa-
tons. In this, causes of Death by
i Occupation" he gives the following
death rates from tuberculosis before
the age of 35: From 1880 deaths of
textile mill workers (male), $50 died
/ from tuberculosis; from 4,l39 deaths
of clerks, bookkeepers and Office as
| sistants, 1,449 were rom tuberculosis;
, rom 1868 deaths among printers and
compositors, 360 we're from tubercu-
losis; from 1,748 masons and brick
! layers, 1872 were from tuberculosis;
Z from 2,722 deaths of painters, paper
) hangers and varnishers, 1896 were
' from tuberculosis; from 1853 deaths
of plumbers, gas filters and steam fit
tiers, 364 were from tuberculosis;
r from 6,471 deaths of teamsters, driv-
! ers and chauffeurs, 1926 were from
y tuberculosis.
Compare this with coal miners,
whose number of deaths was 1857
with 81 from tuberculosis, and farm
ers, whose number of deaths was
$500 with 37S from tuberculosis.
, Bad working conditions also are
= conducive to tuberculosis. Dark,
poorly ventilated factories and rooms
al into which little or no sunshine ever
$ penetrates or where windows are
/. workers. health and render him an
S easy prey for tuberculosis. As a mat
], ter of fact, certain chemical fumes
q which are thrown off in some trade
: processes are not really more danger
t Gus than "stale" air in unventilated
: rooms. Long hours bring on fatigue
and this with undernourishment (be-
n couse of irregular eating times and
$ wrong food) and no opportunity for
g proper exercise, are often instrument
e tai in reducing the individuals powers
: of resistance to tuberculosis.
f Moreover, into these occupations Of
s. tentimes come men who are possibly
v weakened and even already tubercu-
: lous. The man himself in that case,
2 rather than the occupation, may be to
: blame. On the other hand, a weak
/ III a. ..,I.
t ing he could be farmer, and utterly
: ruin his health by the long hours and
: -the hard physical labor. If he had
e continued his old desk job and won
l back his health. If he had been
s working at dusty trade, respirator
: might have helped him.
al The doctor only should be depended
/ upon to study this relation of the
ell mans health his job. He will be
enabled to do this through periodic
n physical examinations which are be-
h ing required more and more by en-
o ployers in their factories. In this way,
o a general knowledge of the individ-
e ual workers health may be known
e and certain danger signals caught in
e time.
The danger signals of tuberculosis
: are: Cd cough which lasts more
= than three weeks; (2) a persistent
r weariness; 81 loss of weight; (4)
S loss of appetite; (5) slight blood spit
e ting; (6) a persistent pain in the
o chest; or CD sudden hemorrhage.
ell If there are no arrangements made
/, in the factory or working place for
e employees to be examined at regular
e intervals, there are clinics in most
o neighborhoods which will be glad to
o give free physical examination.
ri That examinations reveal startling
= discoveries of tuberculosis has been
n seen in various groups where these
have been required. Our draft board
for example, found that tuberculosis
was present in "a out of every 1000
men examined. These cases were
. found among rnan who were in the