health

Archeologists have found evidence of tuberculosis in skeletons
from Peru that are 1,300 years old and in Egyptian skeletons
dating back 3,400 years. But TB apparently did not emerge as a
major killer until the 1600s in Europe.
By the 1800s the Industrial Revolution had created ideal conditions
for TB to spread—overworked, underfed people crowded together in
tenements and factories with poor ventilation. TB became the leading
killer in many European and U.S. cities. It even took on an aura
of romance, as it sapped the life from many literary fi gures, both real
(British poet John Keats, 1795–1821) and fi ctional (Mimi, the heroine
of the opera La Boheme).
It was unclear whether TB was inherited or infectious until the
1880s, when the German physician Robert Koch (1843–1910) identifi
ed the TB bacterium. Treatment consisted of rest, rich food, and fresh
air, often provided in special TB hospitals called sanatoriums that were
built in mountain areas.
Streptomycin, an antibiotic that kills TB bacteria, was introduced
in the 1940s. Isoniazid, another eff ective antibiotic, came into use in the
1950s. Th ese drugs dramatically lowered the number of TB cases over
the next few decades. Both remained in use in the early 2000s, along
with other drugs. As drug-resistant strains of TB continued to emerge,
research toward better treatment continued.