UTAH STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. 
CIRCULAR TO HEALTH OFFICERS. 
Tuberculosis is a contagious disease communicated directly or in- 
directly by a person affected therewith. 
If the consumptive patient is careful in the observance of precau- 
tions, he will not endanger others. If no care is used, he will inevi- 
tably menace the lives of all with whom he comes in contact; and it is as 
a result of such carelessness that the terrible malady has become the 
most destructive of all diseases. 
In order that the efforts of health boards to restrict the spread 
of tuberculosis may be effective, notification of its presence must be 
furnished as in other contagious diseases. 
Utah was the first state in the union to enact a law requiring 
physicians and others to report all cases of tuberculosis; but it is to 
be regretted that compliance with the law has been far from satisfactory 
notwithstanding the continued efforts of the State Board of Health to 
enforce it. 
Health officers should more fully recognize the importance of the 
measure; and public sentiment should support their efforts in demanding 
strict obedience to it. — 
No embarrassment or hardship to the patient or family is involved. 
They are furnished by the State Board of Health with a circular of in- 
structions to guide them in their own protection and that of the public. 
Utah now boasts of the lowest death rate from tuberculosis in the 
world, the average being 31 deaths annually per 100,000 population, com- 
pared with 161 per 100,000 in the United States at large. 
This low rate should be maintained and still further improved, but 
it cannot be without persistent and faithful efforts. 
Numerous victims of the disease, attracted by the climate remove to 
the State. Of these, many unfortunates are without means and become an 
especial menace to the public health. 
To afford the temporary isolation of these cases until they can be 
returned to the State responsible for their care, and to protect the 
public from many resident cases that have no proper facilities for treat- 
ment or the exercise of the necessary precautions, a State Sanitorium 
should be provided. The establishment of an institution of that charac- 
ter has been urged in the last two annual reports of the Secretary of the 
State Board of Health; and efforts have been made to secure a law provid- 
ing for the same, 
The State Board of Health will again endeavor to secure the enact- 
ment of a law for the establishment of a sanitorium at the next session 
of the legislature; and health officers may promote the public health 
interests by using their influence with the members of that body to se- 
cure their favorable consideration of the proposed bill. 
The arguments of those who formerly opposed the measure were based 
on the assumption that such an Institution would attract indigent con- 
sumptives from other States; which argument is without merit for the 
reason that it should be available for continued occupancy exclusively 
to residents of the State, and affected persons from without, should 
be there isolated only until they could be returned to their legal place 
of residence. 
Health officers are reminded of the importance of carefully disin- 
fecting premises from which a person affected with tuberculosis has re- 
moved. The process of disinfections should be the same as in other con- 
tagious diseases. 
November* 1912. 
T. B. Beatty, M. D., 
Secretary.