Do they still send tuberculosis patients to sanitariums?

Question

I know that they used to.

Answer 1

No, but they will prescribe a medication you must take for nine months. We can cure TB now, except the resistant strain, but people MUST take all the medicine. Your TB test will always be positive afterwards, even though it it is gone, so you have to go in and get a chest x ray in lieu of a Mantoux(TB) test.

Answer 2

No, but they are isolated onto a certain floor of the hospital and only certain people are allowed onto that floor. We can't legally keep them there though. They are free to leave whenever they want whether they are finished with their medication or not. A person is never cured of TB. It may become dormant and not pose any symptoms, but it remains in their body forever and can become active at any time, especially if their immune system becomes weakened such as with AIDS or cancer.

Answer 3

Sanitariums - or "sanitaria" - like huge mental hospitals, are a thing of the past.

Return of tuberculosis as a public health threat has frightened a great many people. Particularly as a result of quick and simple world travel, several strains of TB that were unknown in the U.S. by the 1950's and '60's have re-appeared or arisen for the first time. Worst of these is a strain of drug-resistant TB that originated in certain Russian prisons and labor camps, as well as a related variety found mainly among the poor and homeless in the U.S. who failed to complete their medication regimes.

"Sanitaria" were largely isolation wards for TB patients who had nowhere else to go or people to care for them, or who were stigmatized by the disease and could no longer remain in their homes or communities.

The great majority of TB patients in the past usually had special rooms of their own with fresh air their main feature. Many went to the American Southwest - or other parts of the world known for "healthy climates" of dry, hot air - and lived in facilities with again lots of fresh air. In Redlands, California, for example, are meny late 1800's - early 1900's houses with flat roofs and/or wide second-floor balconies. This is where the beds and sitting places for the "lungers" were. A special train spur still curves toward a local hosspital for delivery of TB patients to its wards or for transfer to some of these homes. The trains, of course, no longer operate.

One of the great events of the early 20th century was the immense public health campaign mounted in the U.S. by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. In order to protect people from infection, preserve the lives of those who were sick, and reduce the cost of paying insurance claims for TB victims, Met Life created the "visiting nurse" program and mounted a huge public education campaign. That campaign included the "Please don't spit on the sidewalk" message board program. At theatrical events, speeches by touring lecturers, movies, almost every gathering, Met Life had posters displayed to remin people of it. And the company helped finance the research that aided in halting the spread of the disease through immunizations as well as treatment.

Today, simple matters of cleanliness and behavior will prevent the spread of TB. Immunization is still wise, although far too many youngsters haven't had it.

Answer 4

With the advent of certain antibiotics that can treat and prevent contagion it is no longer necessary to isolate patients with tuberculosis.

Answer 5

NO!

Are you living in the DARK AGES?

We have so many people with TB here, there would be HUNDREDS of sanitariums...

Answer 6

I don't think so, the advancement of medicine has come along way in the last 50 years.