Tuberculosis

The present issue of The Journal is devoted mainly to the subject of pulmonary tuberculosis, the one disease that is just now foremost among subjects of medical discussion. Probably nothing has stirred up the medical profession at any time during the past century as has Koch ’s discovery of the tubercle bacillus. The disease we have had always with us and the suspicion of its communicability was not new, but this scientific confirmation of the facts and the practical deductions therefrom have amply warranted enthusiasm. We know now that tuberculosis, which is responsi ble for so large a proportion of human mortality, is an infectious disorder, and what is still more valuable knowledge, that it can be recognized in its early stages while still curable and that it is to a certain extent preventable. It is natural that, under these circumstances, enthusiasm should b e aroused and sometimes extravagance be indulged in even by medical men in their estimation of the dangers of infection. Very little, however, if any, of this tendency will be met with in the papers in this issue.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research