Patient Perspective: Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis has ravaged human culture since ancient times. Egyptian mummies tell the story of deadly tuberculosis infections thousands of years ago. Fragments of the spinal columns of mummies dating back to 2400 B.C. show evidence of damage caused by the bacteria. Later, around 460 B.C., Hippocrates wrote that tuberculosis was the most widespread disease of the time in Greece and was nearly always fatal.84 Today, tuberculosis infections still occur in all parts of the world, but mankind is fighting back. Scientists are using the vast knowledge and powerful tools that the Egyptians could not have dreamed of to develop new treatments for this age-old foe.
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Endnotes:
84 M. Sarrel, "A History of Tuberculosis," New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, http://www.state.nj.us/health/cd/tbhistry.htm (accessed 4 October 2005).
