Tuberculosis as a disease of the masses, and how to combat it : prize essay / by S. A.. Knopf.

  • Knopf, S. Adolphus (Sigard Adolphus), 1857-1940.
Date:
1901
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Tuberculosis as a disease of the masses, and how to combat it : prize essay / by S. A.. Knopf. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Mortality Statistics of Goerbers- dorf and Falken- stein. Prolonged Rest Cure in the Open Air. can be avoided when physician and patient work together to com- bat the tubercle bacillus, this great foe of mankind. Another very interesting observation is that in localities where sanatoria for consumptives are situated, the mortality from con- sumption among tlie inhabitants of the respective villages has markedly decreased since the establishment of the institution. The splendid hygienic and preventive measures instituted in the sanatoria have been voluntarily imitated by the vdlagers, and as a result the mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis among the in- habitants has gradually decreased. Thus we are glad to be able to answer in the negative the question so important in the combat of tuberculosis as a disease of the masses, “Are sanatoria for con- sumptives a danger to the neighborhood? ” From well-conducted sanatoria for consumptives no danger can arise to the surroundings. To confirm this statement by exact statistics, we wiU. reproduce the data taken from the official documents of the two villages, Goerbersdorf and Falkenstein, where five of the largest German , sanatoria have been located for many years. In Goerbersdorf the deaths from consumption were: 1790-99 1800-09 1810-19 1820-29 1830-39 14 6 9 9 8 1840-49 1850-59 1860-09 1870-79 1880-89 6 7 4 5 5 The sanatorium in Goerbersdorf was established in 1859, and since then the population of the village of Goerbersdorf has doubled. In the village of Falkenstein died from tuberculosis: Before the Establishment of the Sanatorium. After the Establishment of the Sanatorium. 1856-58 .. 17.2 per 100 1877-79 1859-61 .. 7.7 u 1880-82 14.6 “ 1862-64 .. 22.6 ti 1883-85 6.0 “ 1865-67 .. 14.0 u 1886-88 5.0 » 1868-70 .. 16.7 U 1889-91 13.9 » 1871 73 .. 21.0 i( 1892-94 16.1 “ 1874-76 .. 33.3 It The patients in such a sanatorium live, so to speak, day and night in the open air. During the day they lie on lounging chairs on the open verandas and take walking and breathing exercises, and at night they sleep, of coui’se, with the windows open. It is