Tuberculosis : Its History And Notable Information

Tuberculosis has long been a disease that the human culture has been dealing with which entails significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. With dealing with such a horrific disease over the years, discoveries and evolution on the appropriate ways to contain, diagnose, and challengingly treat the disease has changed. One of the most concerning complications of this worldwide public health issue is the ability for it to quickly spread in high populated areas while becoming ever more resistant to forms of treatment not available in all locations around the world. This is a serious public

For much of the 19th century into the early 20th century, tuberculosis was the disease with false connotations attached to it, but as time passed and the cause and cure of

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection in which nodules referred to as tubercles grows in the bodies tissues, especially on the lungs. Tuberculosis is a

“Tuberculosis (TB), a multisystem disease with myriad presentations and manifestations, is the most common cause of infectious disease–related mortality worldwide. Although TB rates are decreasing in the United States, the disease is becoming more common in many parts of the world. In addition, the prevalence of drug-resistant TB is increasing worldwide. TB is caused by M tuberculosis, a slow-growing obligate aerobe and a facultative intracellular parasite. The organism grows in parallel groups called cords (as seen in the image below). It retains many

While tuberculosis was never completely eliminated, there was a significant drop in cases and death rates, as a result of the BCG vaccine and new anti-tubercular drugs in the 1950’s.

Tuberculosis has been part of human history for a long time but how long is a long time? Recent research using genetic data has allowed us to know that the tuberculosis progenitor has been on this planet for about 3 million years affecting even our earlier ancestors (Gutierrez et al, 2005). Additionally this research showed that the bacilli from tuberculosis are capable of mixing sections of their genome with other strains and giving the pathogen a composite assembly, which resulted from ancient horizontal exchanges before its clonal expansion. This quality provided tuberculosis a big advantage that even now a days allows the organism to evade, adapt and create resistance to treatments that were once successful. In order to fix current and

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB, has existed for centuries. The oldest recorded account of TB can be found in the literature by Hippocrates from around 460 BC (Tranotti, n.d.). However, at this point the infection was referred to as phthisis. Now at this time, this disease seemed to spell out the inevitable death for its prey. Hippocrates went so far as to advise his colleagues in the medical field to stay away from patients of the viral disease in order for the physicians not to lose their reputations due to the inevitability of their deaths. Later, in 1679, Dr. Franciscus Sylvius identified the anatomy and pathology of the disease. He was the first to identify actual tubercles, abscesses, and cavities in the lungs of patients as a result of the virus which led to its naming of Tuberculosis (A History of Tuberculosis Treatment, n.d.). About forty years later, English physician Benjamin Martin

Robert Koch was born in 1843, His father was a mining engineer. In 1862 University of Göttingen to study medicine. Koch was influenced by Jacob Heine, the professor of anatomy. Koch took his M.D. degree in 1866, After getting his M.D.he went to Berlin for six months and was under the influence of Virchow. In 1867 Koch settled in hamburg as an assistant in the general of the hospital.He then went to Rackwitz, in the province of posen. He passed his district Medical Officer's Examination at Rackwitz. In 1870 he volunteered himself for service in the franco prussian war and was the district medical officer for Wollstein for 8 years from 1872 - 1880. He did research on anthrax and how it was killing animals, and found they were killed by bacilli.

The tubercle bacilli or the causative organism of tuberculosis was demonstrated by Robert Koch in 1882. He showed that

One of the prominent men behind the germ theory was Robert Koch, a German physician, who laid the foundation for the theory. Koch experimented on animals because he noticed what most people saw as a mystery. He used a microscope to look at blood that belonged to cows that died of anthrax. Koch discovered that there were tiny bacteria shaped like a rod and supposed that it was a disease called anthrax. Out of curiosity, he transported the bacteria to mice, which also acquired anthrax. His observation of the transportation of anthrax led Koch to create the four standards that determines that a certain germ can cause a specific disease. Koch’s criterion famously known as Koch’s Postulates and are still commonly used. His third postulate is, “the disease must be reproduced when a pure culture is inoculated into a healthy, susceptible host.” In other words, a disease is able to multiply when a clean group of germs introduces itself to a vulnerable animal to house the germs. Robert Koch launched the germ theory for other great minds to enhance by discovering a disease and creating a set of principles.

Tuberculosis was the most widespread public concern in the 19th and early 20th centuries as an endemic disease .According to World Health Organization Tuberculosis is infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. 24th March is celebrated as the world TB day to make the entire world. TB was diagnosed in modern medicine at the beginning of 19th century after the identification of mycobacterium by Robert Koch. But our Indian Systems of Medicine started treating this disease from 5000 BC by use of herbal drugs. TB was diagnosed in Ayurveda and Siddha systems of

Tuberculosis (TB) is a CDC (Centers for Disease Control) notifiable disease which is caused by an infectious bacterium that was discovered by a man named Robert Koch in 1882. This infectious bacterium that causes Tuberculosis is called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and is also known as Koch 's Bacillus. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (2015), Mtb is a small, slow-growing bacterium that can live only in people. It is not found in other animals, insects, soil, or other non-living things. Mtb is an aerobic bacterium, which means

Tuberculosis was discovered by Robert Koch, A german physician and scientist. He covered Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis on the evening March 24, 1882. It got its name from numerous tubercles(“holes”) formed in the lungs of other parts of the body by bacteria. Tuberculosis in ancient times among Egyptian mummies Spinal tuberculosis, known as Pott’s disease has been detected by archaeologists. Evidence of tuberculosis of the cervical lymph nodes or lymph nodes of the neck termed scrofula is found in the Middle ages. In the 18th century in Western Europe, tuberculosis reached its peak with the fact as high as 900 deaths per 100,000. The disease existed 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.

Answer #1: Koch was the major mind in establishing that microorganisms cause a specific disease. He was able to prove that certain bacteria was present in the blood of the infected person or animal, but the presence of the bacteria could have been caused by the disease. Koch proved that certain infectious diseases are caused by certain microorganisms that can be isolated and cultures onto a media. The requirements Koch established are that the same pathogen must be present in every case of the disease, the

Tuberculosis is among the fatal diseases that are spread through the air. It’s contagious, meaning that it spreads from one infected individual to another, and at times it spreads very fast. In addition to being contagious, the disease is an opportunist infection as it takes advantage of those with weak defense mechanism, and especially the ones with terminal diseases like HIV and AIDS. Tuberculosis is therefore among the major concerns for the World Health Organization due to its contagious nature (World Health Organization 1).