The History of Tuberculosis!
Welcome!
As you already know, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis is Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It was Dr. Robert Koch that discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the bacterium that causes the illness, tuberculosis on March 24, 1882. During the time of his discovery, tuberculosis was a deadly disease killing one out of every seven people. His discovery of the bacterium made it possible for many to control and possibly eliminated tuberculosis in the future.
Many called the disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis as tuberculosis. In 1834, Johann Schonlein gave tuberculosis its name. But previously, many called tuberculosis “the white plague” because when infected with tuberculosis the individuals have a paleness appearance. Some other terms for tuberculosis were consumption, phthisis, scrofula, Pott’s disease, and King of Disease.
Back in the day, the people did not know how one would get infected with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium. At first, the people thought that the illness was passed down through genes. In England in the early 1800s, there were “vampire panics.” So when there was an outbreak of tuberculosis in the town, the townspeople believe that the first family member to die would come back as VAMPIRE to infect and killed the rest of the family members. To prevent the dead from returning to spread the disease further, the people would perform rituals that involved exhumes the bodies and burning the internal organs of the deceased. The photo below illustrates Europeans performing the ritual and the newspapers, the Boston Daily Globe, making fun of the people in the community that believe in the vampire theory.
https://newengland.com/today/living/new-england-history/new-england-vampire-history/
THERE IS A TEST!!!
Today, we know that vampires do not spread tuberculosis. It is considered an airborne infectious disease. This means that tuberculosis can be pass one from one person to others via the air. For example, when an individual who is infected with the disease happens to cough, sneeze, talk and even sing it can be pass on to others in their surrounding. That is why it is crucial to get tested for tuberculosis. In 1907, Clemens von Pirquiet invented the skin test where patients can have tuberculin placed under the skin. A year later, Charles Mantoux created the Mantoux tuberculin skin test where the tuberculin would be injected by a needle instead, and after 48-72 hours a healthcare professional would “read” the lower arm to determine if the patients have been infected with tuberculosis. This method of detection is still used today. A positive skin test indicates that the patients were infected with the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis and a negative skin test means that the body did not react to the test and latent tuberculosis or tuberculosis is not likely presence. The image below shows what a positive skin test looks like on the arm of a patient.
https://www.slideshare.net/doctorrao/diagnosis-of-tuberculosis-an-update-33182772
But don’t worry there is a vaccine. The Bacille Calmette- Guerin, short-handed as BCG, was developed in 1921 by Albert Calmette and Jean-Marie Camille Guerin. The vaccine was generated using the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis, which is a closely related bacteria to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria that was put in the vaccine is the weakened form, but it is still alive. However, the BCG vaccine is not used often in the United States. Usually, it is given to individuals that are born in countries where tuberculosis is common. On the other hand, infants and young children in the United States are given the vaccine to prevent being infected with tuberculosis meningitis.
The invention of antibiotics was a significant advancement in the treatment of tuberculosis. Today, there are four known drugs used to treat the disease: Isoniazid developed in 1951, pyrazinamide developed in 1952, ethambutol developed in 1961, and rifampin established in 1966. But what did the people do before there were antibodies? The best form of treatment before antibodies was a reasonably simple method. It was just isolating the infected individual from society. Many tuberculosis sanatoriums were built to provide treatment to tuberculosis patients. These sanatoria allow the patients to be isolated and preventing the chances of them spreading the disease to other family members. By 1904, there were as many as 115 sanatoria that can hold up to 8,000 patients, and by 1953 the sanatoria increase up to 839 and can hold up to 136,000 patients. The image below is a tuberculosis sanatorium in Banks County in Georgia.
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/file/5319
There are many organizations today that are continuing to research and fight TB. In 1905, Edward Trudeau founded the American Sanatorium Society and the National Association for the Study and Prevention of TB in 1904. Eventually, these organizations were renamed to be the American Thoracic Society and The American Lung Association. These organizations work to help people with TB and ultimately eliminate TB in the United States.
Work Cited
https://www.cdc.gov/tb/worldtbday/history.htm
http://www.tbonline.info/posts/2011/6/29/battling-white-plague/
https://www.tbfacts.org/tb-tests/
https://www.thetruthabouttb.org/what-is-tb/
https://www.tbalert.org/about-tb/