The Consumption Scourge

 My maternal grandfather, William, died in the 1920s at the age of 47 from "chronic pulmonary tuberculosis. Presumably he picked it up during his service as a Marine, possibly while serving in Culebra in the U.S. Virgin Isles. 

My grandfather, 

William

Consumption, as TB was once known, has attacked humans and, as it turns out, other mammals for thousands of years. Robert Koch discovered the bacterium, M. tuberculosis in 1895, and the development and use of X-rays shortly after made it possible to diagnose the disease with certainty. 

The disease was especially prevalent among the poor, as you might guess, given the lack of sanitation available to them, poor nutrition and other factors that usually combine to make diseases more of a problem for those without means.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, it may have been the leading cause of death in the U.S., with some 25 percent of deaths being attributed to consumption. By the beginning of the 20th century, improvements in health care, public sanitation and nutrition, among other factors brought that mortality rate down. But for years the disease was the third leading cause of death in America.

Frustratingly, even after the organism was identified, a cure remained elusive. Among the treatments doctors attempted was to deliberately collapse an infected lung, essentially to give it break, though the treatment didn't work very well. Other treatments included giving patients substances such as mercury, iodine, quinine -- yes, the same stuff touted for awhile for coronavirus -- turpentine, and cod liver oil. None worked very well, or at all, because the virus has a waxen cell wall that protects it from such chemicals.

The most common treatment involved admitting patients to sanitariums, where they would be exposed to fresh air, sunlight and better nutrition. The isolation and quarantine from society probably helped, but as you might expect, they were best suited to people of means who could afford to drop out of society and still find a way to support their families.

In 1944, three scientists announced their discovery of streptomycin, which successfully attacked a number of bacteria, including tuberculosis. Closely following this discovery Jurgen Lehmann of Switzerland discovered a chemical compound that could kill the bacteria. Eventually scientists would use a combination of therapies against the disease, discovering better compounds and antibiotics to fight a disease that tends to develop resistance with a certain amount of ease. 

Nowadays, of course, TB's not such a big deal. A vaccine was developed, though the vaccine seems to work better as a test for the presence of the disease than a preventive. Still rates of infection are low in the U.S., though the nation encountered a spike in the number of infections in the early 1990s, with New York City being an epicenter. 

It may not surprise you to know that in the 1970s, when infections were very low, Congress decided the disease was no longer much of a threat and gave up directly funding research and control measures. Instead Congress opted to provide block grants for communicable diseases to the states to use as they saw fit. Make of that what you will.