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143
and an essential development of our campaign against the disease is
to do what is possible to provide for the early discovery of infection,
so that persons may be given the benefit of medical supervision and
advice and other help at the earliest possible moment. With the
early knowledge of the disease the chances of restoration to work for
many years become very good, even with the poor; so that in our
campaign against the disease among the poorer classes it is important
that these very early cases should be sought out and taken in
hand almost before they know themselves to be ill.
There can be no doubt that the system which provides for the
detection of early cases, which enables a man to continue his work
during his treatment (because his case has not progressed too far and
which supervises his home arrangements during his treatment), is the
one which presents the most favourable prospects for establishing
such an amount of control over the disease as may in future lead to
a great reduction in the suffering and death which it entails. Now
that the disease has been made compulsorily notifiable we shall be
able to apply the above measures far more generally than hitherto;
and a scheme for extending our work to better meet the requirements
of the situation is at present under the consideration of the Public
Health Committee.
In the absence of an invalidity insurance scheme among British
workers, sanatorium provision is robbed of much of its value for the
poorer classes, because of the great difficulty of getting them into these
institutions at a sufficiently early stage.
In many parts of the country the empty Small-pox Hospitals are
being utilised for the isolation and education of some of the more
necessitous cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. At first sight it seems
that some danger and inconvenience might arise in connection with
such an arrangement, but the somewhat extensive experience now
available points to no drawbacks beyond the occasional need for the
sudden removal of the consumptive patients to their homes ; but even