| | |
|11:30 a.m.| | | | | | |Sat up
| | | | | | | |1 hour.
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TUBERCULOSIS, CANCER, AND MENTAL ILLNESS.--As we have seen, early
symptoms of sickness are always important; yet it seems worth while to
mention particularly the early symptoms of tuberculosis, cancer, and
mental disorders, because each of these diseases, though curable in
many cases when taken in the early stages, is serious and often fatal
if neglected. Certain facts relating to their cause and prevention
should be known to everyone. Tuberculosis, long our greatest cause of
death, is gradually growing less; but cancer and mental disease are now
on the increase.

TUBERCULOSIS.--Every year tuberculosis causes the death of about 150,000
people in the United States. It is caused by the bacillus tuberculosis,
a germ which may attack any tissue of the body, although it most
frequently affects the lungs of grown people, and the bones and glands
of children. The disease is not inherited, but susceptibility to it
appears to be; it is readily communicated from person to person. The
germ of tuberculosis is so widely distributed that probably few persons
over 30 years of age have not been infected with it at some time,
although the infection may have been too slight to be noticed. Indeed,
most people have probably been infected many times, though without
serious results.

Tuberculosis is spread chiefly in two ways: (1) through any bodily
discharges from infected persons, especially through the nose and mouth
discharges; (2) through milk from infected cows. The ways by which the
disease is spread indicate methods of prevention. Milk, especially for
children, should either be pasteurized or should come from cows that
have been tested and proved to be free from the disease. Other methods
of prevention include avoiding any and all bodily discharges of infected
persons, and increasing bodily resistance as far as possible. Good food,
sufficient rest and fresh air are not only important preventives, but
also the most efficacious means of cure. Persons who suffer from
insufficient food, exposure, bad housing, long hours, and bad conditions
of work are especially susceptible to tuberculosis, and thus it is
rightly called a disease of poverty.

Early symptoms of tuberculosis include cough, hoarsenes