Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1917 — OFTEN LATENT FOR YEARS [ARTICLE]

OFTEN LATENT FOR YEARS

Minnesota Physlcith Explains RaaVSHT for Tuberculosis Infection in Entire Families. “If tuberculosis is not hereditary why is it usually found in most of the members of an infected family?” The reason, according to Dr. L J. Murphy of the Minnesota Public Health association, is this: “The first case in a family usually infects all the other members of the family before the case is diagnosed ot sent to a sanatorium. “Infection of other members of a family can be prevented, as a rule, only by removing the source of the infection to a sanatorium,” adds Doctor Murphy. “Children especially should be safeguarded from individuals who may be casting off tubercle bacilli in their sputum or mouth spray. Today authorities, agreeth at childhood is tbfl period of infection. “Most of those who develop consumptom in adult life have carried the latent infection from childhood and have not received a new infection at the time the symptoms appear. The extremely heavy death rate from tuberculosis between the ages of twenty and - thirty is due to childhood infections which are ‘lit up’ by the various forms of life strains to which young adults are subjected. “The onset of tuberculosis is very insidious. In case of doubt consult a physician. A cough lasting more than three weeks, a daily afternoon flushing, a steady loss in weight, frequent hoarseness, easy tiring, indigestion, and a blood-stained sputum are some of the early signs, any one of which should call for a thorough examination. Grown-ups who have been intimately exposed during childhood should report also for periodical_£X*alnlnations.”