DISEASES of the CHEST

The time has arrived when every physician, whether in general practice or a specialty, should actively engage in the tuberculosis eradication movement. In the history of man, the present moment offers the greatest hope for the ultimate eradication of this disease. It is no longer a problem of inability to diagnose early, to treat successfully in most instances, or to prevent its spread. These are reasonably well in hand. The current problem is the prevalence of tuberculosis. Even in so-called low incidence areas, more people have tuberculosis in some stage of its evolution than any other major disease. The most serious disease scourge of mankind since the dawn of history, tuberculosis, wreaked destruction among animals and people until the present century. No effective weapon against it had been found. It long ran neck and neck with malaria as an incapacitator and killer. With the use of effective malaria control measures, tuberculosis is in bold relief as the cause of incapacity and death among the 2,400,000,000 people of the world. However, in a few places phenomenal accomplishments have been made in the last decades.