Two Years' Study of Lobar Pneumonia in Massachusetts

Lobar pneumonia as a cause of death outranks all other infections, except tuberculosis. Standing in seventh or eighth place among the principal causes of death, it ranks second if one considers only persons in early adult life. In the United States Registration Area for the ten years 1920-1929 there were over one million deaths from all forms of pneumonia, 52 per cent of which were due to lobar pneumonia. Few if any diseases exact such a toll at the economic prime of life. It is therefore extremely fitting that in any consideration of public health some attention should be given to this disease. Yet almost without exception it has been completely neglected save for a passing remark of regret as to the futility of its control. Quarantine seems to offer little hope of success, owing to the relative infrequency of secondary cases. A thoughtful health officer would hesitate to recommend