[Report 1910] / Medical Officer of Health, Burnley County Borough.

  • Burnley (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1910] / Medical Officer of Health, Burnley County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/188 (page 25)
    Phthisis. Occupation. No. Housewives 19 Not stated 9 School Children 15 Under Five years of age 4 Total 199 Tuberculosis of the Lung, Phthisis, or Consumption is a disease affecting both man and animals. It is infectious, and the infection is probably conveyed by means of the sputum of a person suffering from the disease, or by means of milk from a cow with tuberculosis of the udder. It is an extremely common disease, attacking persons with more or less severity in all parts of the world, generally speaking it is more prevalent in temperate climates. Humidity of the atmosphere appears to have some relationship to its incidence, for it does not appear to be so common in hilly countries where there is a dry atmosphere. Hence the choice of such places for Sanatoria. The disease is commoner in towns and affects mostly its over- crowded parts. This of course can only be expected where there is closer contact of infected persons with uninfected ones. Again, in the poorer parts of any town we have overcrowding, and that is always associated with poverty, and the poor who are most likely to be exposed to this disease have the further likelihood of becoming affected because they possess less resisting power, from lack of food, irregular habits, breathing an impure atmosphere, &c. The infection is almost invariably conveyed in the sputum expectorated by a phthisical patient, for it generally contains large numbers of the micro organisms or germs of the disease. The germs may be conveyed directly from mouth to mouth by the use of the same pocket handkerchief or the use of the same drinking vessels without previous cleansing. Another method, and undoubtedly a common one is due to promiscuous spitting. Phthisical sputum expectorated on the floor dries, and on becoming dust mingles with the air of the room and in that way may be swallowed by other occupants. There is no reasonable doubt that this method of infection is possible and even common, more especially where a room