Pulmonary tuberculosis and blood morphology

When the diagnosis of tbc pulmonum is made, it is commonly assumed that the patient necessarily suffers also from anemia, and if so, the administration of arsenic and iron is considered indispensable. The diagnosis of anemia without examination of the blood is usually made for all patients suffering from tuberculosis, or suspected of tbc,-for all who have pale skin and mucous membranes. This is particularly striking when reviewing the work of TB clinics, where 95-99% of patients arriving not only themselves say they have anemia, but almost all have a diagnosis of anemia in their accompanying charts. This idea of anemia as an indispensable companion of tbc is the result of categorical statements of old authors on the one hand and not examining blood or examining it with insufficiently accurate methods on the other hand.