The Crusade Against the White Plague by G. H. HEALD, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 15, 1908

The Crusade Against the White Plague

By G. H. HEALD, M. D.

G. H. HEALD, M. D.

Of the great epidemic diseases which have afflicted mankind, two have been distinguished by the name plague. The black plague has in former generations depopulated cities and devastated Europe and Asia. After lying quiescent for decades or centuries, it bursts forth in fury on its mission of destruction. Such a general epidemic is now in progress, though greatly modified by the efforts of modern science to check it.

We now have very accurate knowledge of the nature of the disease, the means of its transmission, and the proper procedures for preventing its spread; yet its appearance in a city causes consternation, and all the resources of science are applied to stamp it out. Notwithstanding the efforts to eradicate it, including quarantine against infected cities, and sometimes the destruction of infected districts by fire, the disease is gaining foothold in practically all parts of the globe.

It is right that the appearance of this disease should cause consternation, for it means loss of life and financial loss to any unfortunate city that harbors it. But it is strange that this disease, which is confined more or less to rat-infected and filthy quarters, should cause such consternation as compared with that caused by the presence of the white plague; for the white plague takes no vacations, is never quiescent, but works steadily all the time and overtime. All races of men are more or less subject to its ravages, those being particularly susceptible who (like the American Indian) have not acquired a hereditary tolerance by generations of exposure to it.

Not only man, but almost the entire animal kingdom is more or less susceptible to the ravages of the bacillus of tuberculosis. There are few animals that will not, under favoring conditions, yield to the disease, and there are probably no tissues of the body that the organism will not attack.

More lives are destroyed by the white plague in the United States than by the black plague in India. More Americans are carried off by consumption in one year than have been killed by yellow fever in the entire history of this country. More people die by the bacillus of tuberculosis every four years than were killed by bullets in the four years of the Civil War. Tuberculosis stands at the head of the list of diseases which deprive us of our loved ones, being responsible for about one seventh of all deaths. Its onset is so insidious that we do not immediately observe the source of the contagion, and we tolerate it. In contrast is our prompt quarantine of a case of smallpox, a disease which does not cause any perceptible damage, as compared with that of tuberculosis.

Till within about a quarter of a century, tuberculosis was supposed to be hereditary, and then through the discovery of Koch it was definitely learned that the cause of the disease is a small micro-organism,—the tubercle bacillus,—which is transmitted from one person to another; in other words, to use a common expression, that tuberculosis, or consumption, is contagious.

We know that the disease is more than contagious; that is, communicable by direct contact. It is not necessary to be directly in contact, or even to see the tuberculosis patient, though intimate contact may greatly increase the chances for infection. It may be communicated by breathing infected dust, by eating infected food, including milk,—whether infected from diseased cows or dirty flies,—and in other ways.

But knowledge often filters slowly down to those who need it most. At first there was a marked disinclination to accept the theory of the contagiousness of the disease; then after a campaign of education many went to the other extreme, and there was an epidemic of phthisophobia, and an effort to drive the poor consumptive away from civilization. To this inhumanity is now succeeding a more humane effort to render public aid to the helpless consumptive and his family, and to improve the housing and general sanitary conditions, so as to lessen the ravages of the disease.

Soon after it was learned that the disease is preventable, humane people, by the organization of societies and through the machinery of government, began the work of perfecting a crusade against this mighty foe, and at the present time there are engaged in this great fight bacteriologists, physicians, veterinarians, educators, philanthropists, settlement workers, and government officials, attacking this gigantic problem from many sides.

The first international congress on tuberculosis was convened in Paris in 1898, only ten years ago. The next year it met in Berlin, and the next in Milan, and again in London in 1901. But it was in the Paris meeting of 1905 that it took on a really international character. Every one of these meetings served to encourage advanced efforts for the prevention of tuberculosis; for the report of the success of a certain measure in one country was certain to be followed by its adoption in other countries. By this interchange of methods, by arousing new enthusiasm, and giving a new impetus to the work, the anti-tuberculosis movement has made a distinct advance after each world-meeting.

In 1904 the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis was formed in this country, and has since held annual meetings, which have served to carry the work into nearly every city, hamlet, and rural district in the land. It was this national association that enabled our country to participate profitably in the Paris international meeting of 1905.

But the most important, the most momentous, of the gatherings that have convened to combat tuberculosis is the International Congress held in Washington, D. C., September 21 to October 12 of this year. Never before, perhaps, have so many scientists come together to discuss this subject. At no former gathering have so many important questions relating to this disease been decided. Never before has there been such an extensive tuberculosis exhibit assembled; and we may predict that the warfare against the white plague will be pushed with a vigor and enthusiasm never before known.

Takoma Park, D. C.

(To be concluded)