Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 November 1907 — The Control of Tuberculosis. [ARTICLE]

The Control of Tuberculosis.

The third annual report of the Henry Phipps Institute of Philadelphia, whoa* work is the study, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis, as summarized by Charities and the Commons, presents many items of interest and encouragement to those who are seeking to arrest the ravages of consumption. • One is the racial susceptibility to the disease. Foreign born citizens brought to the institute form nearly one-half the burden of its work for the year. The countries which sent it the heaviest burdens in order of sequence were Russia, Ireland, Germany, England, Italy, Austria and Scotland. The same order holds good for the cases which came from the second generation, namely, the children born of immigrants. Only 31.3 per cent Of all the patients treated were of native ancestry one generation back. Children born of mixed parentage most frequently became victims when the union of parents was between Irish and native born, and next between Irish and English. The claim often made that tuberculosis does not exist to any great extent among the Hebrews is partially borne out by tbs mortality statistics in large cities; that Is, while the disease is very prevalent among the Hebrews it seldom takes on a fatal form. There seems to be a racial immunity against tb| toxine'of the tubercle bacilli, but not against its growth. The institute finds that the frequency with which residence is changed by the consumptive poor constitutes a menace to public health and furnishes a strong argument in favor of registration of tuberculosis. It is also urged that disinfection of houses when vacated by consumptives, whether by death or removal, should be practiced everywhere. It is interesting to note that in Philadelphia every ward in ‘which an institution for the treatment of tuberculosis exists showed s reduct’on of the death rate from the disease, while some of the adjoining wards have had an increase.