This disease demands especial attention, not only because it is above all others the great destroyer of human life, causing one seventh of all deaths, but because, so far from being a surely fatal disease as popularly believed, it is an eminently curable disorder if recognized in its earliest stage. The most careful laboratory examinations of bodies dead from other causes, show that very many people have had tuberculosis at some time, and to some extent, during life. The reason why the disease fails to progress in most persons is that the system is strong enough to resist the inroads of the disease. The process becomes arrested by the germs being surrounded by a barrier of healthy tissue, and so perishing in their walled in position. These facts prove that so far from being incurable, recovery from consumption frequently occurs without even our knowledge of the disease. It is only those cases which become so far advanced as to be easily recognized that are likely to result fatally. Many more cases of consumption are now cured than formerly, because exact methods have been discovered which enable us to determine the existence of the disease at an early stage of its development.
Consumption is due to the growth of a special germ in the lungs. The disease is contagious, that is, it is capable of being communicated from a consumptive to a healthy person by means of the germs present in the sputum (expectoration) of the patient. The danger of thus acquiring the disease directly from a consumptive is slight, if one take simple precautions which will be mentioned later, except in the case of a husband, wife, or child of the patient who come in close personal contact, as in kissing, etc. This is proved by the fact that attendants in hospitals for consumptives, who devote their lives to the care of these patients, are rarely affected with consumption. The chief source of danger to persons at large is dust containing the germs derived from the expectoration of human patients, and thus finding entrance into the lungs.
Consumption is said to be inherited. This is not the case, as only most rarely is an infant born actually bearing the living germs of the disease in its body. A tendency to the disease is seen in certain families, and this tendency may be inherited in the sense that the lung tissue of these persons possesses less resistance to the growth of the germ of consumption. It may well be, however, that the children of consumptive parents, as has been suggested, are more resistant to the disease through inherited immunity (as is seen in the offspring of parents who have had other contagious diseases), and that the reason that they more often acquire tuberculosis is because they are constantly exposed to contact with the germ of consumption in their everyday home life.
It is known that there are certain occupations and diseases which render the individual more susceptible to consumption. Thus, stone cutters, knife grinders and polishers, on account of inhaling the irritating dust, are more liable to the disease than any other class. Plasterers, cigar makers, and upholsterers are next in order of susceptibility for the same reason; while out of door workers, as farmers, are less likely to contract consumption than any other body of workers except bankers and brokers. Among diseases predisposing to consumption, ordinary colds and bronchitis, influenza, pneumonia, measles, nasal obstruction causing mouth breathing, and scarlet fever are the most important.
No age is exempt, from the cradle to the grave, although the liability to the disease diminishes markedly after the age of forty.
About one third more women than men recover from consumption, probably because it is more practicable for them to alter their mode of life to suit the requirements of treatment.
It is, then, the neglected cold and cough (bronchitis) which offers a field most commonly favorable for the growth of the germs in the lungs which cause consumption. And it is essential to discover the existence of the disease at its beginning, what is called the incipient stage, in order to have the best chance of recovery. It becomes important, therefore, that each individual know the signs and symptoms which suggest beginning consumption.
Cough is the most constant early symptom, dry and hacking at first, and most troublesome at night and in the early morning. Expectoration comes later. Loss of weight, of strength, and of appetite are also important early symptoms. Dyspepsia with cough and loss of weight and strength form a common group of symptoms. The patient is pale, has nausea, vomiting, or heartburn, and there is rise of temperature in the afternoon, together with general weakness; and, in women, absence of monthly periods. Slight daily rise of temperature, usually as much as a half to one degree, is a very suspicious feature in connection with chronic cough and loss of weight. To test the condition, the temperature should be taken once in two hours, and will commonly be found at its highest about 4 P.M., daily. The pulse is also increased in frequency. Night sweats are common in consumption, but not as a rule in the first stage; they occur more often in the early morning hours.
Chills, fever, and sweating are sometimes the first symptoms of consumption, and in a malarial region would very probably lead to error, since these symptoms may appear at about the same intervals as in ague. But the chills and fever are not arrested by quinine, as in malaria, and there are also present cough and loss of weight, not commonly prominent in malaria. Persistently enlarged glands, which may be felt as lumps beneath the skin along the sides of the neck, or in the armpits, should be looked upon with suspicion as generally tuberculous, containing the germ of consumption. They certainly demand the attention of early removal by a surgeon.
The spitting of bright red blood is one of the most certain signs of consumption, and occurs in about eighty per cent of all cases, but rarely appears as an early warning. The pupils of the eyes may be constantly large at the onset of the disease, but this is a sign of general weakness. Pain is also a frequent but not constant early symptom in the form of “stitch in the side,” or pain between or beneath the shoulder blades, or in the region of the breastbone. This pain is due to pleurisy accompanying the tuberculosis. Shortness of breath on exertion is present when consumption is well established, but is not so common as an early symptom. The voice is often somewhat hoarse or husky at the onset of consumption, owing to tuberculous laryngitis.
To sum up then, one should always suspect tuberculosis in a person afflicted with chronic cough who is losing weight and strength, especially if there is fever at some time during the day and any additional symptoms, such as those described. Such a one should immediately apply to a physician for examination of the chest, lungs, and sputum (expectoration). If the germs of tuberculosis are found on microscopical inspection of the sputum, the existence of consumption is absolutely established. Failure to find the germs in this way does not on the other hand prove that the patient is free from the disease, except after repeated examinations at different times, together with the inability to discover any signs by examination of the chest. This examination in some instances produces no positive results, and it may be impossible for the physician to discover anything wrong in the lungs at the commencement of consumption. But, generally, examination either of the lungs or of the sputum will decide the matter, one or both giving positive information.
The use of the X rays in the hands of some experts sometimes reveals the presence of consumption before it is possible to detect it by any other method. There is also a substance called tuberculin, which, when injected under the skin in suspected cases of consumption causes a rise of temperature in persons suffering from the disease, but has no effect on the healthy. This method is that commonly applied in testing cattle for tuberculosis. As the results of tuberculin injection in the consumptive are something like an attack of grippe , and as tuberculin is not wholly devoid of danger to these patients, this test should be reserved to the last, and is only to be used by a physician.
Treatment. There is no special remedy at our disposal which will destroy or even hinder the growth of the germs of tuberculosis in the lungs. Our endeavors must consist in improving the patient’s strength, weight, and vital resistance to the germs by proper feeding, and by means of a constant out of door life. The ideal conditions for out of door existence are pure air and the largest number of sunshiny days in the year. Dryness and an even temperature, and an elevation of from 2,000 to 3,000 feet, are often serviceable, but not necessarily successful.
When it is impossible for the patient to leave his home he should remain out of doors all hours of bright days, ten to twelve hours daily in summer, six to eight hours in winter without regard to temperature, and should sleep on a porch or on the roof, if possible. In the Adirondacks, patients sit on verandas with perfect comfort while the thermometer is at ten degrees below zero. A patient (a physician) in a Massachusetts sanitarium has arranged a shelf, protected at the sides, along the outside of a window, on which his pillow rests at night, while he sleeps with his head out of doors and his body in bed in a room inside. If it becomes stormy he retires within and closes the window. If the temperature ranges above 100° F. patients should rest in bed or on a couch in the open air, but, if below this, patients may exercise. A steamer chair set inside of a padded, wicker bath chair, from which the seat has been removed, makes a convenient protected arrangement in which a consumptive can pass his time out of doors. If the patient is quite weak and feverish he may remain in bed, or on a couch, placed on a veranda or balcony during the day, and in a room in which all the windows are open at night. Screens may be used to protect from direct draughts.
No degree of cold, nor any of the common symptoms, as night sweats, fever, cough, or spitting of blood, should be allowed to interfere with this fresh air treatment. The treatment may seem heroic, but is most successful. The patient must be warmly clothed or covered with blankets, and protected from strong winds, rain, and snow. During clear weather patients may sleep out of doors on piazzas, balconies, or in tents.
Nutritious food is of equal value with the open air life. A liberal diet of milk and cream, eggs, meat and vegetables is indicated. Raw eggs swallowed whole with a little sherry, or pepper and salt on them, may be taken between meals, beginning with one and increasing the number till three are taken at a time, or nine daily. If the appetite is very poor it is best that a glass of milk be taken every two hours, varied by white of egg and water and meat juice. Drug treatment depends on individual symptoms, and can, therefore, only be given under a physician’s care. Sanitarium treatment is the most successful, because patients are under the absolute control of experts and usually in an ideal climate. Change of climate is often useful, but patients should not leave their homes without the advice of a competent physician, as there are many questions to consider in taking such a step. There is a growing tendency among physicians to give consumptives out of door treatment at their homes, if living out of cities, as careful personal supervision gives much better results than a random life in a popular climatic resort.
Prevention. Weakly children and those born of consumptives must receive a generous diet of milk, eggs, meat, and vegetables, and spend most of their time in the open air. Their milk should be heated for fifteen minutes to a temperature of 160° F., in order to kill any germs of tuberculosis, unless the cows have been tested for this disease. The patient must have a separate sleeping room, and refrain from kissing or caressing other members of the family.
The care of the sputum (expectoration) is, however, the essential means of preventing contagion. Out of doors, it should be deposited in a bottle which is cleaned by rinsing in boiling water. Indoors, paper bags or paper boxes made for the purpose are used to receive the sputum, and burned before they become dry. The use of rags, handkerchiefs, and paper napkins is dirty, and apt to cause soiling of the hands and clothes and lead to contagion. Plenty of sunlight in the sick room will cause destruction of the germs of consumption, besides proving beneficial to the patient. No dusting is to be done in the invalid’s room; only moist cleansing. All dishes used by a consumptive must be boiled before they are again employed.
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