First Public TB Sanatorium
1908 - Institutional Event
From the late 1800s until the 1950s, the favored treatment
for one of the world’s deadliest diseases was simply resting—and leaving home
for five, 10 or 20 years to do it.
Tuberculosis, or TB, was the second leading cause of death in the United States
at the turn of the century, just behind pneumonia. Before the development of
antibiotics, no one could cure this contagious bacterial infection. But since
it usually affected the lungs, scientists thought the illness might subside if
the lungs were kept as inactive as possible.
While many patients convalesced at home, those who could afford to went to
institutions called sanatoriums for
special bedside nursing care. The mountain climate of western North Carolina was
considered ideal for TB patients. And no town in the South had more sanatoriums
than Asheville. Unfortunately, these retreats were very expensive, and only
wealthy patients could afford them.
In 1908 the State Board of Health opened North Carolina’s first
public sanatorium in Hoke County, offering much less costly treatment. Other
counties followed. However, African Americans were refused treatment until
1923, when the Hoke County facility built a separate, segregated building.
Sanatoriums emphasized a regimented daily schedule that included long periods
of bed rest. Because fresh air was believed to help fight tuberculosis,
patients spent much of their time outside. They slept with their windows open
or on screened porches, even when temperatures dipped below zero and fresh air
came mixed with sleet and rain.
Today opinion is divided over whether the rest cure really
helped. In any case, the development of antibiotics in the 1950s ended the
threat of TB as a serious danger to public health. Gradually, nearly all the sanatoriums
in the country closed down.
The First World-Wide Killer
For hundreds of years, TB killed more people worldwide than any other single disease. In fact, it wiped out one-seventh of the human race at any given time.
This highly contagious bacterial disease can strike anywhere in the body but usually affects the lungs. There the bacteria break down respiratory tissue, causing the patient to cough up blood. Since the lung appears to consume itself, the disease became known as consumption. It can spread when someone with infected lungs coughs or sneezes into the air. Besides chronic coughing, TB symptoms include fatigue, fever, night sweats and weight loss.
With improvements in hygiene, nutrition and hospital care in the 20th century, tuberculosis rates declined steadily. But it was the development of antibiotics in the 1950s that wiped out the disease in North America.
Or it seemed to. In recent years, an alarming number of drug-resistant strains of TB have emerged around the world. People with weakened immune systems are particularly at risk. Today an estimated one-third of the world’s population carries the tubercle bacterium, although most will never develop tuberculosis.
For hundreds of years, TB killed more people worldwide than any other single disease.
Treating TB at Home
If you couldn’t afford to pay the high cost of sanatorium care—or wouldn’t be admitted because you were an African American—you could buy several different remedies for TB at your local drugstore.
Patent medicines, available without prescription, contained mild herbs to stimulate the lungs. They also contained strong narcotics to relieve pain and induce sleep.
Vaporizers were common in the bedrooms of TB patients convalescing at home. Much like the ones many of us use today, they offered temporary relief from respiratory complaints by helping to keep nasal and bronchial passages open. A small cup held a medicated substance known as cresolene, which was warmed from below by a kerosene lamp and vaporized into the room.
If you couldn’t afford to pay the cost of sanatorium care or wouldn’t be admitted because you were an African American you could buy different remedies at your local drugstore.