CONSUMPTION, THE GREAT WHITE PLAGUE
Tuberculosis, or consumption, has been known for many centuries. It
was known long before Rome was ever heard of. Hippocrates, a Greek
physician, studied it, and said that if it were treated in its
early stages, it could be cured.
[Sidenote: Why consumption is called the Great White Plague]
Tuberculosis is called the Great White Plague. It is called the
Great Plague, because it kills more people than does any other one
disease; the White Plague, because people who suffer from it become
so pale and white.
[Sidenote: Consumption more destructive than war]
It is estimated that nearly 200,000 people die from tuberculosis
every year in the United States. This means that in this country
there is one death from consumption every two minutes and
thirty-six seconds. Is it not fearful to think of nearly 200,000
people dying every year, in the United States alone, from a disease
that we know can be prevented? Do you not think that we ought to do
everything we can to prevent this disease from spreading?
During the Civil War 205,070 soldiers were killed in both armies.
This war lasted four years. During the same length of time there
were 640,000 deaths from tuberculosis in the United States. This
means that consumption killed over three times as many people as
were killed during the same length of time in the Civil War. In
some parts of the country one out of every seven deaths is caused
by this disease, but the average throughout the country is one
death out of every ten.
[Illustration: FIG. 64. Comparing 640,000 deaths from tuberculosis
the United States during four years with the 205,070 deaths in the
Civil War.]
[Sidenote: Prevalence of tuberculosis]
There are more than 700,000 people sick from tuberculosis every
year in the United States alone. Of this number nearly 200,000 die
every year. Tuberculosis is a disease that can be prevented. It may
take a long time to get rid of it, but it can be abolished. When
you think of all the people that are sick from tuberculosis, and of
all those who die from it every year, you will surely want to do
all you can to help prevent this suffering and death.
[Sidenote: Tuberculosis a disease of various parts of the body:]
When people speak of consumption they usually mean tuberculosis of
the lungs; but tuberculosis is not confined to the lungs. The germs
that cause tuberculosis may attack any part of the body, and from
one part may go to other parts, setting up a growth wherever they
go.
[Sidenote: (_1_) Of the throat]
Tuberculosis of the throat is a common form of the disease. When
the germs of tuberculosis settle in the throat, they destroy the
tissues very rapidly and, as a rule, kill the patient much more
quickly than they do when they start in the lungs.
[Sidenote: (_2_) Of the joints]
Another frequent form of tuberculosis in occurs in the knee; this
is popularly called "white swelling." It quickly destroys the knee
joint and results in a stiff leg. The growth may stop there, but
more often it extends from the knee to other parts of the body.
Often we see a little boy or girl wearing one shoe with a sole much
thicker than the other. This is because one leg is shorter than the
other, and we notice that the shortened leg is deformed as well.
This condition sometimes results from an injury, but it is far
more likely to be caused by tuberculosis of the hip joint.
[Sidenote: (_3_) Of the spine]
Again we see boys and girls with diseases of the spine, so
that they have "hunch backs" or are twisted to one side. These
conditions result from tuberculosis of the bones of the spine.
[Illustration: FIG. 65. One of the effects of tuberculosis.]
[Sidenote: (_4_) Of the glands]
Sometimes we see children and grown people with swellings on their
necks. These swellings may look smooth, but they feel as if they
were made up of little bunches of grapes or plums under the skin.
They are almost always due to the growth of the germs that cause
tuberculosis of the little glands of the neck.
[Sidenote: (_5_) Of the stomach]
Any one of the other glands of the body is just as liable to
become affected by tuberculosis as are the glands of the neck.
Tuberculosis of the stomach or bowels is not at all uncommon.
The germs of tuberculosis are likely to attack any of the tissues
of the body, especially if the cells composing these tissues are
for any reason weakened so that they cannot do the work required
of them. When the tuberculosis germs grow in tissues, the tissues
finally break down and an abscess forms. A tubercular abscess is
sometimes called a "cold abscess."
All such abscesses finally break and an open sore results. The
matter that comes from the open sore and from the abscess when it
is first opened is full of the germs that cause tuberculosis. If
this matter is allowed to become dry, the germs are blown about in
the dust. Then other people may inhale them or take them into their
bodies through the mouth or skin and thus contract consumption.
[Sidenote: The old belief that consumption is inherited]
Until a few years ago it was generally believed that consumption
was inherited. That is, it was thought that children whose father
or mother had consumption were born with the disease. Even to-day
many people hold to this idea, because they have not studied or
learned of the discoveries made in recent years. These people still
believe that if a child's father or mother dies of tuberculosis,
the child will die of tuberculosis, too, no matter how careful he
may be or how much of a fight he may make against it.
It is true that many people whose parents have died of consumption
also die from this disease; but this does not prove that they were
born with consumption. It merely shows that they had a good chance
to catch the disease by being continually with some one who had it.
It is also true that a great many people die from consumption whose
parents did not have it. If consumption is an inherited disease,
where did these people get it?
[Sidenote: How the germ of tuberculosis was discovered]
About thirty years ago, Dr. Robert Koch discovered that all
consumptives have in their sputum a long, slender germ which he
called the tubercle bacillus. Some of these germs he injected
into guinea pigs, and he found that they caused the pigs to have
consumption. Then he made many other experiments, and proved beyond
question that it is this very germ that causes tuberculosis, and
that no one has consumption unless he has this germ in his body.
[Sidenote: Evidence that consumption is not inherited]
Then the question arose, "Is the baby whose parents have
consumption born with this germ in its body?" This question
could not at first be answered; but tests were made by taking
the children of consumptive parents away from their parents, and
keeping them in homes where there were no consumptives. It was
found that these babies did not develop the disease. From these
and many other tests, it has been proved that consumption is not
inherited, and that the reason the child of the consumptive so
often has consumption is because he lives with people having the
disease.
[Sidenote: Evidence that consumption is a house disease]
Consumption seems to be confined to certain families, and this has
led many people to think that the disease is inherited, regardless
of the proof that it is not. When we carefully study the facts
in various cases, we find that the disease is not confined to a
certain family, so much as it is to the _house_ in which the family
lives.
The record of a single house will illustrate how tuberculosis
sticks to the house rather than to the family. From 1880 to
1901, a particular house was occupied by a father, mother, and
six children, of whom four died of consumption. From 1902 to
1903 the house was occupied by another father and mother with
eight children. They moved away because of the great amount of
sickness in the family. At present this father and one of his
children have tuberculosis. In 1904 the house was occupied by
still another family, consisting likewise of a father, mother,
and eight children. Now it is known that four of the children
have tuberculosis, and it is feared that three others have also
contracted the disease. In 1905 a son of the first occupant, with
his wife and two children, returned to live in the house. The
father of this family died of tuberculosis. Up to 1906 the total
results from this house, scattered through four families, were as
follows: five deaths, six cases in people still living, and three
suspected cases.
[Illustration: FIG. 66. The constant danger of infection in railway
cars, where germs can live as well as in a house.]
[Sidenote: Why consumption is a house disease]
When the consumptive coughs, he sends fine droplets of moisture
into the air. These droplets contain the germs that cause
tuberculosis. The moisture evaporates and the germs are left
sticking to the floors, the walls, the curtains, and the furniture
of the room. When the room is swept or dusted, the germs are
stirred up with the dust and people inhale them. The germ that
causes consumption will live for a long time in a house; you cannot
see it, but it is there. Wherever a consumptive has lived, he has
left the germs of this disease behind him.
[Sidenote: How to disinfect houses]
If a house in which a consumptive has lived is thoroughly
disinfected, all the germs he left there will be killed. Scattering
disinfectants about a room does no good. The only proper way to
disinfect is to close the house, for if the disinfectant is strong
enough to kill the disease germs, no human being can stay in the
house while it is being used. Disinfecting should be done by the
health officer, because he knows how much disinfectant is needed to
kill every germ in the house and how it should be used.
[Sidenote: Fraudulent disinfectants]
Sometimes you will see an advertisement saying that certain
disinfectants will kill the germs of disease but will not affect
the people. Always remember that any disinfectant that is strong
enough to kill the disease germs will also kill human beings, and
do not be fooled by such advertisements.
_Never move into a house that has been previously occupied, until
the house has been disinfected._ Do not take it for granted that
the people who lived there before had no communicable disease.
Do not take the word of the agent or of any one else that there
has never been sickness in the house. People sometimes have
tuberculosis without knowing it; people sometimes have tuberculosis
or other communicable diseases without telling of it.
It does not cost much to disinfect a house, and if the disinfection
is properly done the disease germs will be killed. "An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure." Try to convince your father
that by having the new home disinfected he may save not only
doctor's fees, but perhaps the lives of himself and his family.
There are a great many things that boys and girls can do to help
fight this disease. This "scourge" can be wiped out; but if the
boys and girls do not help in this great work, it will never be
done.
=Questions.= 1. Why do people call consumption the Great White
Plague? 2. What is the annual death rate from consumption in the
United States? 3. Compare the fatality from consumption with the
number of soldiers killed during the Civil War. 4. What amount of
illness in the United States is due to consumption? 5. Describe
at least four forms of tuberculosis. 6. What determines the part
of the body in which the germ of tuberculosis grows?
=Remember.= 1. Tuberculosis and consumption are the same disease.
2. This disease kills more people than war, although it might be
prevented. 3. Tuberculosis is not confined to the lungs but may
attack the tissues of any part of the body. 4. Consumption is not
inherited; it is a house disease rather than a family disease. 5.
A house should be disinfected by the health officer before it is
occupied by a new tenant.