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Did you know TB was a “fashionable” disease in the early 1900s in England?
Tuberculosis was especially prevalent during the early 19th and 20th centuries (during the 1800s to 1900s) because of the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and due to the change in living conditions for people. In England especially, people lived in more crowded and less sanitary environments, making them more prone to the spread of airborne diseases like Tuberculosis.
TB became such a problem that it earned the name “White Plague”, mainly because it paled the complexion of the sufferers and that it was the deadliest disease affecting both Europe and the United States at that time1. It was so universal that the disease wasn’t limited to just lower class populations and areas—it infected upper class people all the same, resulting in rattling coughs, physical and mental fatigue, and losing appetite as the bacteria consumed the victim’s lungs, hence the name "consumption".
Yet despite these debilitating symptoms, because TB was affecting upper class people and artists, they twisted the disease into a tale of romanticism, a “fashionable” illness that influenced all kinds of art during this time period. People started believing TB could enhance artistic talent, and the fevered state brought greater clarity of the mind while creating works of art2. This notion pervaded into fashion, where the consumptive appearance became the European beauty standard for women—fragile and small-waisted due to the lack of appetite when infected with TB, dilated eyes, pale skin, and rosy cheeks and lips—all traits that were practically unachievable for the healthy, non-infected individuals who had to live up to them3.
For instance, the painting to the right, Ophelia by John Everett Millais, which depicts the character from Hamlet as pale, fragile and with bright lips, the epitome of the idealized consumptive woman.
But, the same romanticized view on TB was frowned upon within the lower classes. The pale skin that was idolized in high society became a source of stigma, isolation, and lack of treatment. Instances such as these highlight the stark discrepancies that exist in getting access to treatment and medicine to the people who are in desperate need of it. These historical inequalities echo today, particularly in many third world and developing countries. Thus, the history of TB has established the precedent for the ongoing global inequalities in healthcare. By understanding this, future policies can be made with these underlying tensions in mind to mitigate the impact of future suffering for infected populations.
References
“Https://Www.tenement.org/The-White-Plague/.” Tenement Museum, www.tenement.org/the-white-plague/.
Yousra Kherabi, and Philippe Charlier. “Portraying Tuberculosis through Western Art, 1000–2000 CE.” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 31, no. 3, 21 Feb. 2025, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/31/3/23-1581_article, https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3103.231581.
“Tuberculosis and the Fatal Beauty of Romanticism | ASM.org.” ASM.org, 2025, asm.org/articles/2025/may/tuberculosis-and-fatal-beauty-romanticism.
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