On the causes of the spread of pulmonary consumption and other tubercular diseases, and on the means which may be taken to prevent their dissemination / Eben. Duncan.

  • Duncan, Eben.
Date:
[1892]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the causes of the spread of pulmonary consumption and other tubercular diseases, and on the means which may be taken to prevent their dissemination / Eben. Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    tion of Great Britain to submit to be treated as the lepers of old were dealt with, the expense would be so enormous as to be quite prohibitive. In the cases of the workers in crowded work- shops, and the dwellers in single apartments and rooms and kitchens, the sanitary officials might do great good by looking into the ventilation and sanitary condition of these places, and advising the people as to the disposal of the phthisical sputum, which we have seen to be the most dangerous material. Everv death from phthisis should be notified to the medical officer of health, and, in view of the persistent infectivity of the spores of the tubercle bacillus, in such cases the sanitary officers should disinfect the house and clothing of the deceased, and inquire into the sanitary condition of his dwelling, and of the workshop in which he may have contracted the disease. It would also be possible for local authorities to enact that every room in a lodging-house or hotel which had been occupied by a consumptive patient should be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected to the satisfaction of the sanitary authority. The imperial authority ought to enact that on board ship consumptive patients should have separate sleeping accommodation. This is a most important matter, as the conditions on board ship, in respect to insufficient cubic space and bad ventilation, are the most favourable for the spread of the tubercle bacillus. With regard to hospital accommodation for such cases, I think, on humanitarian grounds, it would be a great boon to the unfor- tunates who are refused admittance to our infirmaries, on the ground of their hopeless condition, if they were provided with a home, like the home for incurables, where they might end their d^s in peace and comfort. This would also tend to diminish the risk of infection which undoubtedly exists in the small, badly ventilated, and crowded houses of the poor. In the curable stages of the disease, I do not think there is any danger in treating cases of consumption in a well-ventilated general hospital, if proper care is taken to prevent the patients from spitting about the wards. A\ith regard to the question of what we can do with tubercular cattle, I think sanitary improvement in the byres and hygienic treatment of the cows are the only preventive measures which are likely to be effective. I do not think that we shall succeed m doing much good in limiting the spread of these diseases if we restrict our action to the slaughter of diseased animals