What is a Sanitarium?
Sanitariums were built before anti-biotic treatments for tuberculosis.
A sanitarium was a medical facility for people with a long-term illness.
At that time, people
felt rest and good nutrition was the best for a full recovery. During
the early twentieth century, TB sanitariums were common in the United
States, while Switzerland
had many, and most of Europe's ill were sent there, as the fresh mountain
air was the best treatment for TB. During this time, more than half
of the infectious
patients were isolated, helping to keep the disease from spreading.
In 1943 Streptomycin was discovered and was a cure for tuberculosis.
Around the 1950's, TB was no longer a public health threat, and most
sanitariums were shut
down.
