Trachoma

February 1, 1933  Jacob and I went to Cimarron and Dodge City to Dr. Janne because of Jacob’s eyes, went along with K. H. Reimers.  Mama, Mary, and Corney went to Mother.

Jake and Mary both had trachoma, which is a bacterial infection of the eyelids.  If left untreated, it can become extremely painful and damage the cornea, resulting in blindness.  It seems that Jake was treated successfully, but Mary had it so badly that it did affect her vision permanently.  (At one point she was in the hospital for trachoma, and her vision was so poor that she did not recognize her father, which was very painful for him.  But her vision did improve after that.)  The Siemens went to the doctor in Dodge City and other places seeking help for Mary and Jake. 

Trachoma was wiped out in the United States about this time, and now it can easily be treated with antibiotics.  It is a disease caused by poverty and poor sanitation.  It spreads by contact with infected individuals, especially by sharing towels and wash clothes used by infected people or using water contaminated by sewage.  Sadly this trachoma was one of the consequences of the poverty that the Siemens family endured while Cornelius was a widower in the 1920s in Manitoba.  When Cornelius married Margaret in 1930, she had enough money so that they could go to the doctor and treat their illnesses.