Embedded Files
Tuberculosis has always been a constant presence in human history, with the first original genus Mycobacterium dating back to more than 150 million years ago. In fact, it dates back as far as 2400 BC, where skeletal remains of Egyptian mummies showed spinal deformities characteristic of TB today, resulting from the pathogen spreading through the bloodstream to the bones. Additionally, deformed spines and skeletal damage are examples of these developmental abnormalities. Tuberculosis has been prevalent throughout history, and these mummies provide a prime example that TB has been around for much longer than we previously thought.
The first documentation of TB was supposedly recorded between 3300 to 2300 years ago, in India and China. Huang Ti Nei-Ching was one of the first medical works in history, and it mentioned the existence of a “wasting disease” around the third millennium BCE in China. In a legal text by Hammurabi in Babylonia (as shown on the left), the king mentioned a chronic lung disease which may refer to Tuberculosis. Even Homer’s Odyssey, from the 8th century BCE, mentions a “grievous consumption which took the soul from the body,” alluding to Tuberculosis directly. In ancient Hebrew, the word to describe TB is schacheptheth. In ancient Greek, TB was called phthisis, which roughly translates to wasting away, much like the way the bacterium consumes the victim’s lungs. All in all, TB has plagued history and continues to maintain its grip on society today.
While Tuberculosis was initially discovered in 1882 by German physician Robert Koch and the first antibiotic was created in 1943, TB remains the top infectious disease today. This is due to the lack of modern treatments developed because of the decreasing number of cases in more advanced countries such as the United States. Because of the inconsistent access to treatment in third world countries such as India, there has been a surge of a new type of TB that is more deadly: Multi-drug resistant TB, or MDR-TB, and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). Both of these strains of TB do not adhere to the six month regimen for drug treatments and can require taking years of medication, the medication consisting of many drugs taken together, often five or more. MDR-TB is resistant to typical TB medication, meaning that common medicine like isoniazid and rifampicin are not effective on the patient. This becomes detrimental within countries that do not have stable access to treatment because as this type of TB spreads, the more expensive treatment becomes and the disease more out of control. However, there are efforts to contain MDR-TB, such as the WHO’s Green Light Committee Initiative, to establish projects and experiments to test drugs that are affordable, common and still effective. Initiatives like the American Lung Association and We Are TB are encouraging improved human resources, such as creating faster and more efficient diagnostics that are accurate, integrating TB coverage within public health-care, and ensuring a steady and abundant supply of TB drugs. In general, we must have more resources to treat TB and to be readily available for the general public, especially in the countries suffering the most from the disease. As the awareness of this global health crisis increases, hopefully so does the funding and assistance more people around the world can receive to live a TB-free, unburdened life.
References
Barberis, I, et al. “The History of Tuberculosis: From the First Historical Records to the Isolation of Koch’s Bacillus.” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, vol. 58, no. 1, Mar. 2017, p. E9
CDC. “History of World TB Day.” World TB Day, CDC, 9 Dec. 2024
Frith, John. “History of Tuberculosis. Part 1 – Phthisis, Consumption and the White Plague.” Jmvh.org, 2011
Medcalf, Alexander, et al.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse