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20
If the sputum is collected in a spittoon and burnt or otherwise
destroyed it is probably dangerous to no one. Even if thrown into
dry and well-lighted surroundings, exposed to the rays of the sun. it
loses its dangerous properties. But if it remains in dark and damp
surroundings it will maintain its activity for a long time, and thus it
is that Tubercle claims more victims from gloomy, ill-ventilated and
dark dwellings.
There is an admitted danger in tuberculophobia, but the fact
that Consumption is curable should make notification easier. Half
the human race has tubercle and goes on living without knowing it.
Stress has been repeatedly laid upon the curability of Consumption,
but the greatest difficulty has been experienced to persuade the victims
of the disease to take advantage of the arrangements made by the
Co uncil. In July, 1905, an agreement was entered into whereby the
Council maintained three beds at the Northwood Sanatorium. Only
twelve persons applied for admission during 1906, and of these four
were in too advanced a state to benefit from the treatment. Very rarely
the three beds were occupied during the year, and from a return issued,
it was shown that two beds would more than suffice for the applications
received.
Our first difficulty is to get at the sufferers in the first stage of the
disease. In the earliest stage the patient coughs and has a cold
Either he takes no notice of it or goes to a chemist and has a mixture
for his cough. Weeks and months go by, and if the weather is
inclement he gets worse; if it is mild, he has periods when he appears
better, followed by more serious attacks. Then fever and wasting set
in and he has to give up his work. This is the time he usually seeks
medical advice, but he has entered a stage when skilled treatment is
probably useless. The Council has done almost everything in its
power to obviate this difficulty. It undertakes the bacteriological
examination of all suspicious cases, and during the year thirty such
examinations were made, but in almost every instance the patient was
too far advanced to benefit from Sanatorium treatment.
In France anti-tuberculous dispensaries have been established.
Foremen are educated and they advise their fellow workmen to seek
treatment in the first stage.
Besides the difficulty of obtaining early information of the
disease, there are other obstacles which prevent some of the sufferers