Montana labor news., 1938-03-10

ter Clarke, M. D., Executive Direc-
tor, The American Social Hygiene
Association, and presented in CO.
operation with the Montana Labor
News as part of the observance of
National Social Hygiene Day.
One of the main reasons for the
high death rate of expectant moth
ers and new born children and for
the i'll health of others is the failure
of many such mothers to place
themselves early in the hands of a
competent doctor. Every woman
should consult a physician as soon
as she knows she is going to have a
baby. To know what he may need
to do to assure her safety and the
health of her child, the doctor will
make at least these examinations.
/. At the beginning he will make
a general physical examination to be
sure that the woman is able safely
to bear a child.
2. He will make frequent exam
nations of the urine, to make sure
the kidneys sge working well.
3. He will measure the blood
pressure" to test the condition of
the heart and blood vessels, and
other organs.
4. He will examine a specimen of
her blood. This may show that the
woman is "anemic" and needs treat
ment to make her blood richer
Or it may show that there are dan
gerous germs in her body which will
undermine her health and threaten
the health or life of the child if the
mother is not promptly treated.
Why is it important to examine a
specimen of the blood?
The one infectious disease which
can pass from the mother to the
child before birth and threaten its
life OIL health is syphilis. When ac-
quired before birth it is called con-
genital syphilis. Such an infection
of the child is very destructive and
hard to cure. A common effect is
injured sight or total blindness.
Many of the children of ~untreated
and infected mothers are born dead;
many who are born alive die soon
afterward; and those who survive
are likely to be crippled in body and
in mind.
The ravages of congenital syphilis
ran unchecked for many years, but
at last the doctors discovered that
it could be prevented if the infected
mother were treated during at least
the final half of pregnancy. With
out this treatment of the infected
mother, the child has but one chance
in six of being born healthy. With
treatment of the mother early
enough it is almost certain of being
born free of any sign of syphilis.
Syphilis is found among the high
and the low, the rich and the poor.
Among women who attend prenatal
clinics an average of nine to ten per
cent have been found infected.
Among women who 60 to private
physicians, from one to three and
one-half per cent are found with
syphilis. Even if the disease were
found in only n mother in a thou
sand it would be worth while to
protect her child and seek to cure
the mother.
The treatment of the mother for
the prenatal protection of her child
is simple for the doctor, and it is
almost sure to protect the child il
treatment is begun not later than
the middle of pregnancy. The
earlier treatment is begun the sureI
is the protection. While treatment
begun later may still protect the
child, the protection cannot be relied
on with such certainty. 1t is i'm
portant, therefore, that the prospec-
tive mother should come under the
care of her doctor early in each Of
her pregnancies.
For a long time the prevention Of
congenital syphilis was difficult be.
cause doctors had no sure way Of
discovering the disease. At last two
great medical scientists named Dor.
Diet and Wassermann discovered {
blood test for syphilis. The new tesI
shows syphilis in most cases ever