History of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis has been known to mankind since ancient times. This disease has been called Anterior by numerous names including consumption (due to severe weight loss and the way the infection appeared to "consume" the patient), pulmonology of the phthisis and white plague (due to the extreme pallor seen among those infected).

Even today after the development of advanced methods of research, diagnosis and treatment for the disease, a third of the world's population has been exposed and become infected with the organism. The numbers are over 90% in the developing world.

With the advent of HIV infection there is a dramatic resurgence of tuberculosis with more than 8 million new cases every year worldwide and more than 2 million people dying from it. In the nineteenth century, tuberculosis was known as "the captain of all men of death." It is still true to a large extent today.Tuberculosis in Ancient Times
The organism that causes tuberculosis - Mycobacterium tuberculosis existed 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. It has been found in relics of ancient Egypt, India, and China. Among the spinal tuberculosis of the Egyptian mummies, known as Pott's disease has been detected by archaeologists.

Tuberculosis in the Middle Ages
Tuberculosis tests of cervical lymph nodes or neck lymph nodes called scrofula are found in the Middle Ages. They were called as evil by the "king" and widely believed that the kings of England and France could cure simple scrofula by touching those affected.

Tuberculosis in the 18th century
In the eighteenth century in Western Europe, tuberculosis reached its peak with an incidence of up to 900 deaths per 100,000. The poorly ventilated and crowded unit, primitive sanitation, malnutrition and other risk factors led to the rise. The white plague of the term emerged around this time.

Famous People to suffer from Tuberculosis
Famous men and women over ages suffered from this disease. The Notable among these were poets John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson authors, Emily Bronte, and Edgar Allen Poe, musicians Nicolo Paganini and Frederick Chopin to name a few.

Discoveries in relation to tuberculosis
The tubercle bacilli or the causative organism of tuberculosis were demonstrated by Robert Koch in 1882. He showed that the unique cover of the organism's protein made it difficult to visualize anterior until a specific spot of oxide called the Zeihl Neelson oxide stain was removed. discovered.

The bacteria were called the Koch bacillus and since it took red acid dye, it was called AFB or acid fast bacilli. Koch was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1905. In 1895 the Roentgen de Wilhelm developed the X-rays that other advanced diagnoses of tuberculosis. This allowed early diagnosis and isolation of infected individuals.Isolation
In the nineteenth century the concept of keeping tuberculosis patients isolated a sanatorium turned on. Initially started in Silelsia in 1859 by Hermann Brehmer the idea reached great popularity. In 1884, Edward Livingston Trudeau lit the first sanatorium in the United States. They isolated from society and treated the Infectious people with rest and improved nutrition.

National Association of Tuberculosis and the American Lung Association
The association's National Tuberculosis Association, which developed later in the American Lung Association came into being in 1904.

Vaccine for tuberculosis
In the 1880s Louis Pasteur began the concept of developing vaccines against anthrax, chicken cholera, and, later, rage. In 1908, French scientists Albert Calmette and Camilo Guerin grew the Koch bacillus in several media to decrease its virulence and to increase the ability to produce immunity. This led to the now famous vaccine called BCG named after the two founders. BCG was introduced in 1921.

Surgery for tuberculosis
Before antibiotics were found effective against tuberculosis, surgical treatment of tuberculosis was common and often life saving. Dr. James Carson, Scottish physician (1821), began the treatment by leaving the pleural effusion around the lungs and surgery found aided to prolong life. The various techniques were developed but due to the lack of effectiveness faded away after the advent of antitubercular drugs.

Antitubercular drugs
Antibiotics were used against tuberculosis for the first time in 1944 after the discovery of streptomycin. The use of this agent only led to antibiotic resistance which remains a serious problem.

Better results followed the development of PAS (para-aminosalicyclic acid). PAS was a streptomycin unlike the oral agent. More effective drugs like INH (isoniazid) came after that in 1950 and treatment with rifampicin followed. Currently, there are fewer than 20 agents with activity against mycobacteria.