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attend Dispensaries for treatment. They will comprise all
forms and practically all stages of the disease, although as time
goes on the late stagers attending will gradually get less and
less in number
The Tuberculosis Officer naturally meets with persons
suffering from all kinds and conditions of disease which in
some way may simulate Tuberculosis. Many cases come to him
suffering from colds, asthma, bronchitis, sore throats, pains in
the chest, etc., etc., in whom after observation Tuberculosis can
be definitely excluded, at any rate for the time being. Such
patients after being informed that they are not suffering from
Tuberculosis, and being shown how to guard against attacks
of the same, are referred elsewhere for the treatment of their
complaints. Some of these, fearing the onset of this dreaded
malady, attend periodically for examination and to have the
assurance that they are not tuberculous, at least not in the
active sense.
Then there are the great number of contacts who come
under the observation of the Tuberculosis Officer. Many of
these are of course, not ill at all, and show no signs of the onset
of the disease. Others, e.g., children of consumptives who
have been subjected daily to gross infection, especally where
the people are poverty stricken, and are compelled on economic
grounds to live in crowded tenements, manifest one or
more of the stigmata of consumption, and if injected with
Tuberculin give a positive reaction in over 50 per cent. of
the cases examined. In many of these cases, however, a
clinical examination would give no definite physical signs of
Tuberculosis. The problem of dealing with these, who may
be termed tuberculous contacts, constitutes one of the most
important of the many duties of the Tuberculosis Officer.
Many contacts will resist the attack of the Tuberculosis germ
by the application of suitable methods of living, viz., cleanliness,