The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-11-27

age of about twenty had at one
time had some tuberculosis in the
body. In country districts it was
not considered to be quite one hum
dred per cent, but in crowded city
districts We were certain 1t was
universal.
That did not mean that every
one had active tuberculosis, or was
going to develop consumption.
Most people then as now overcame
the invasion of the germ by the
natural resistance of the immune
processes of the body. But it did
mean that at some time in their
lives, so universal was the disease, 3
everyone had engulfed a few tu-
bercle bacilli which had lodged in
the tonsils or the lymph nodes of
the neck and got killed off.
OF course in those days the num-
Der of active cases, the persons in
whom the disease did get start,
and the death rate. was about
three to four times what il is now.
Fewer Cases
II is easy to see why the number
IF active cases are so much fewer
today. | do not suppose any tuber-
culosis expert today would claim
that any group in the population
had been infected with the disease
at some time in their lives 100 per
cent. / have a report showing the
tuberculin testing of a group of
college students which shows a
positive test in 44fo. (Only 4fo Of
these had active tuberculosis)
This is the test that shows the ones
who have ever in their lives been
exposed and infected with tuber-
culosis.
Since our present conception Of
the way tuberculosis is spread is
that every infected person got it
by contact with another person
who had an active open case, and
since in the last 20 years the main
object of the campaign against
tuberculosis has been to find the
active cases and eliminate them
from circulation so thew cannot
contaminate anyone else, it is, as l
say, easy to see why the number OF
latent cases in the population has
so greatly diminished. If We re-
move the source of infection from
daily contact with the members,
especially the young members, Of
the family all over the country the
actual number of infections Is
bound to go down.
That is why the case-fnding
campaign is so very important
Case-Finding Campaign
The tuberculosis death rate
dropped 1870 and 329o respective
ly in the last two decades. If this
average of approximately one
third reduction can be maintained
every 10 years, the death rate will
be SO in 1850, 81 in 1860, IA in
1870, and in the year 1000 AID.
there may be no deaths at all from
the disease which was once called
1.-THE Captain of the Men Of
Death"
What does this case-fnding
campaign mean? Briefly it consists
of examining every person In the
population between the ages of Is
and Is to see whether they have
active tuberculosis. This may seem
like a large order, but it is now
quite Systematically carried out on
large groups such as college stu
dents, applicants for jobs in large
industries, and, of course, the
members of the armed forces rep
resent probably the largest mass
population group on which it has
ever been carried out.
tuberculosis attacks many or.
gans of the body, but it is tuber-
culosis of the lungs that is the
worst offender and source Of other
contamination, so we concentrate
on that. 1t can be done rapidly by
taking an Xray of the chest of
every person and examining the
suspicious cases for activity. The
use of the stethescope, once su-
preme, is too time-consuming and
uncertain, but can be employed
where Xray facilities are not
available. And though it means a
lot of work and trouble, the posi-
bilities are glorious.