[Tuberculosis among children in France and in Finland]

As a mortal disease tuberculosis has been a major medical and social problem until the 20th century also in industrial countries. It topped the death statistics both during the last century and at the beginning of this one. The death toll has been heavy in all age groups, but the disease was particulary dreaded because it killed large numbers of infants and children. The protection of children from this disease became a task of the utmost importance. The attitude towards tuberculosis has been one of respect and fear. During the 19th and 20th centuries people became aware of the fact that tuberculosis spread from sick to health persons. However, there were also experts who believed that the disease was hereditary, and that a child could suffer from tuberculosis spread from sick to healthy persons. However, there were also experts who believed that the disease was hereditary, and that a child could suffer from tuberculosis already at birth. Among the European countries the mortality in tuberculosis was particularly high in France and Finland. The goal of this research is to find out how children were saved from developing tuberculosis. Different methods were used in different countries. In many countries tuberculin, isolation of the children and vaccination were used in the prevention of tuberculosis. France and Finland serve as examples in this study. The main sources have been a French scientific journal called Bulletin de l'Acadmie Nationale de Medecine, Paris and the Finnish medical journal Duodecim....