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84
hæmorrhage, 6; cough and wasting, 3; pains in the chest, 29;
difficulty in breathing, alone or associated with other conditions,
22; hæmorrhage from the chest and blood spitting, 18; bronchitis,
16; wasting, 6; severe or "influenza cold," 3; pains in the back,
2; enlarged neck glands ("lumps in the neck,") 3 cases. In 18
instances, the presence of the phthisis was discovered as the result
of systematic medical examination while the patient was under
treatment for one or other of the following complaints:—
Pneumonia, 9; tonsillitis, 3; hooping cough, 2; and diarrhœa,
indigestion, influenza, and heart disease one each.
The commonest signs and symptoms taken singly and arranged
in order of frequency were cough, pain in the chest, hæmorrhage
or blood spitting, difficulty in breathing, "bronchitis" and
wasting. Often these signs were present in groups. The
commonest sign present by itself was persistent cough,—a cold
which the patient "could'nt shake off." The difficulty or hardness
of breathing is known popularly as a "bad chest," "tight
chest," or "asthma." Long continued cough is considered as a
sign of "weak lungs" or of a "weak chest." In 392 cases,
enquiry was made after the patient had been notified as to
whether he knew the nature of the disease from which he was
suffering,—out of all these, 150, or only 38 per cent. were aware
they had consumption. The results of this ignorance are
disastrous. It will be obvious that, if the patient, after he has
been medically examined, after he has been notified, does not
realise that he has consumption, it will be useless to expect him
to take those necessary preventive measures for the protection
of the other members of his family.