THERE is a great deal of talk concerning tuberculosis in the media, and rightly so, for it is a very debilitating, if not deadly, disease.

Fifty years ago, it was also a very prevalent disease and I was involved in isolating the causative organism from patients in a hospital pathology department. Previously to that, I travelled daily by train to school and one of the prohibitions in the carriage was ‘no spitting allowed’, why? Because spitting spreads tuberculosis.

How is it that this connection is not recognised today? To spit, at the slightest provocation, seems a macho thing to do among the younger generation. This is a most objectionable practice, not to mention unhygienic. Perhaps the sportsmen, the icons of the younger generation, could be targeted to change this filthy habit and maybe, just maybe, the incidence of tuberculosis in human beings will be reduced.

HILARY SWALLOW, Gorsley, Herefordshire.