Tuberculosis

Abstract

M ention tuberculosis (TB) and many people think of Victorians and Edwardians dying in sanatoriums. Certainly, TB was the scourge of the pre-antibacterial era. But a growing number of effective antibacterials seemingly defeated the disease. Indeed, by the late 1970s, there seemed a real possibility that TB would join smallpox in the pages of medical history - in the developed world at least. Now TB is back. After years of decline, the number of cases in the developed world is rising sharply.