An Ancient Disease

Hippocrates (c.460–c.377 b.c.e.), a Greek physician who in modern
times is called “the father of medicine,” accurately described tuberculosis
(TB) about 2,400 years ago when he coined the term “phthisis,” which
means to melt and to waste away. In later years, tuberculosis was called
consumption because people with TB tended to waste away as if they
were being slowly consumed.