In this discussion of the factors involved in recovery from tuberculosis, I have no intention of considering the treatment of the patient or of his disease. Rather, I shall endeavor to relate briefly those things aside from treatment which, in my experience, have a profound influence on the recovery of the patient and which, sometimes, seem of more importance than the particular type of regimen the patient follows.
Some of these factors can be determine by the physician from the facts obtained during the taking of the history or can be elicited by examination. Others cannot be so estimated and can be learned only later as a result of observation and continued study of the patient.
There are two things which the physician cannot estimate after a first examination. One is whether or not the individual patient will or will not recover. The other is how long it will take