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Show 10 REPORT OF TEE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIBB. rather to increase the vitality of the Indian race and to establish lor it a new standard of physicbl well-being. The work is king scien-tscally developed along lines which have already been successfully tried out by modern preventive medicine. The principal features of this work as it is now organized are: (1) An intensive attack upon the two diseases that most seriously menace the health of the In-dians~ rachoma and tuberculosis; (2) preventive work on a large scale, by means of popular education along health lines and more effective sanitary inspection; (3) increased attention to the physical welfae of the children in the schools, so that the physical stamina of the coming generation may be conserved and increased. Special attention has been given to the treatment of trachoma dur-ing the year. This was made possible by a special appropriation of $12,000 made by Congress in June, 1909. A hospital was opened at the Phoenix school and placed in charge of one of the best eye spe-cialists in that section of the country. More than 700 cases were admitted to this hospital for operative treatment during the year. In addition to this, two expert physicians and a special nurse have been placed in the field to treat those having the diseasa They have visited the various schools and agencies in the Southwest, where the disease is especially prevalent, and after examining the Indians have started appropriate treatment, which has been continued by the local physicians. A third special physician entered on duty in Ule North-west on June 1 of this year. The situation is still very serious. The regular physicians have examined approximately 20,000 Indians, and found about 20 per cent of them affected with the disease. A special appropriation of $40,000 for the relief of distress and the prevention of disease among the Indian? will make it possible to vigorously push this fight against trachoma and also to increase the facilities for preventing the spread of tuberculosis. Satisfactory re-sults in the treatment of tuberculosis are being obtained in sanatoria. Special camps and sanatoria have been established at Colsille, Wash. ; Fort Lapwai, Idaho; Chemawa, Oreg.; Phoenix and Fort Apache, Ariz.; and Laguna, N. Mex. The total number of patients admitted for treatment was 117. Of this number 87 showed marked improve-ment, some of them being completely recovered. Nineteen were not improved, and 14 died. The sanatoria are being enlarged, and new ones built just as rapidly as conditions will permit. Systematic efforts are being made to educate the Indians in the schools and on the reservations as to the best methods of treating and preventing the spread of tuberculosis, trachoma, and other infec-tious and contagious diseases. A manual on tuberculosis, its muse, prevention, and treatment has been ~ublishedb y the medical super-visor and distributed throughout the service. A series of illustrated lectures for a traveling health exhibit are being prepared. A special physician and photographer are in the field securing photographs |