Læknablaðið - 01.08.1923, Page 23

LÆICNABLAÐIÐ
129
Summary.
The author gives an account of all tuberculous patients notified in the
rural district of Dalasýsla during the years 1890—1922. He has been
medical officer for that district f'or the last nine years, but otherwise his
investigations rest upon the reports of his predecessor and 011 the in-
formation gathered among the population of the district. The total number
of patients is 102, and there is a specific account of the patients of ea.ch
parish. His report shows that the disease is continually increasing; the
number of patients is greater the years when whooping cough, influenza,
or measles are prevalent. Of the patients 68 per cent. had pulmonary tuber-
culosis. Approximated one-fourth of t'ne patients had tuberculous parents
and the maiority of them had tuberculous brothers or sisters. One-half
of the married tul)erculous patíents had children suffering from the same
disease. The author reports that among 30 married patients, there was
only one case where both husband and wife were infected.
In every third household in the district the disease has cropped up, but
veritable „tuberculous nests“ are few, and the author has not noticed that
the disease has been particularly malignant where housing was bad, but
he mentions nevertheless that he has not been able to make very exact
observations on this point.
The author estimates that 63 per cent. of the patients have contracted
the disease before the age of 9, but 14 per cent. after 20, and by far the
larger part of them in their own homes.
In 1.922 the author made a Pirquet tuberculin test on 284 children in
his district, aged 3/12—14 years, with the result that 13 per cent. showed
postitive reaction. The majority of the children showing positive reaction
were frorn tuberculous homes. In the parish (S a u r b æ r) where the
number óf patients is greatest 2^,4 per cent. of the children showed posi-
tive Pirquet, most of them being younger than 4 years. All such children
are now under observation.
At the author’s instigation a veterinary surgeon recently tested for
tuberculin reaction on all cattle (80—90) in the parish (Saurbær)
where the prevalence of the.disease is greatest. The result was a negative
one in every case. Consecjuently, infection from cattle is considered as
precluded.
Finally the progress of the disease is indicated, and it is suggested that
mfection of people does not generally occur in the same way in the villages
as in the rural districts.
Hæð íslending-a.
Eftir Guðm. Hannesson, proí. anatomiæ, Reykjavík.
E x o r d i u m :
Kveð þú gyðja um hinar fársfullu mannamælingar, þær sem ollu
Hannessyni óteljandi skaprauna og sendu hann í tvö ár á mannaveiðar
út um götur og stræti Reykjavikur.
Hver var það svo sem hleypti Hannessyni af stað út í ófæruna? Það