Nursing inquiry
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Historical Article
Pale, poor, and 'pretubercular' children: a history of pediatric antituberculosis efforts in France, Germany, and the United States, 1899-1929.
An international consensus emerged in the years between 1900 and 1910 regarding the need to refocus antituberculosis efforts away from treating tuberculosis in adults and toward preventing active disease in children. This paper uses social history as a framework to explore pediatric health experiments in France (foster placement of city children with rural farm families), Germany (open-air schools), and the United States (preventorium) for children considered 'pretubercular'. ⋯ For each of these three nations, nurses were central actors. Their efforts provide a unique vantage point to study the cultural dimensions of risk and prevention embedded in nursing care and the interplay between science, culture, nurses, and the state.