The actual position of the tuberculosis problem to-day : being address delivered by request at the conference of the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis at Birmingham, July, 1923 / by Sir Robert Philip, M.D., LL.D., President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Professor of Tuberculosis in the University of Edinburgh.

  • Philip, Robert William, Sir, 1857-1939
Date:
[1924?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The actual position of the tuberculosis problem to-day : being address delivered by request at the conference of the National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis at Birmingham, July, 1923 / by Sir Robert Philip, M.D., LL.D., President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Professor of Tuberculosis in the University of Edinburgh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Let us try to visualize the actual position in the light of past achievements and up-to-date intelligence. Tuberculosis now figures in the group of infective diseases. The principles which have been found serviceable in com¬ bating other infectious diseases are broadly applicable to tuberculosis. The realization of this is the basis of all success¬ ful effort. Those principles have been embodied in certain provisions of the Public Health Acts of the several divisions of the Kingdom. The provisions apply to tuberculosis as an infective disease. It is no less true that tuberculosis presents characteristics all its own which separate it from most diseases of the class. The advance of tuberculous infection is slow and insidious. At the commencement the outward manifestations are relatively slight. They are constantly missed. The affection tends to pass unnoticed under the cloak of constitutional delicacy. The tubercle bacillus has too commonly acquired a firm foot-hold before its presence is admitted. Bv the time the diagnosis is made, anatomical and physiological disturbance has been effected which require time and patience to correct. Tubercu¬ losis takes a long time to come and, just because of that, takes a long time to go. Again, tuberculosis differs from most infective diseases by reason of the variety of its manifestations. The features of the disease are (constantly changing. In place of limiting its attack chiefly to the lungs—as is commonly supposed—the disease is frequently present without affecting the lungs at all. The lung affection has filled, and still continues to fill, too large a place in the current conception of the disease. Tuber¬ culosis may attack any organ in the body. It may attack any number of organs. It wanders from point to point by a variety of channels, not twice exactly in the same way. It plays havoc with vital structures, disintegrating tissue and disturbing functional activity. As its deadly grip increases, the tubercle bacillus tends to poison the system widely by dis¬ seminating toxic (poisonous) products produced bv its resi¬ dence within the body.