TB: An Age Old Disease
While the bacteria that causes TB was discovered over 100 years ago, the devastation that TB causes spans much farther back in history. Egyptian mummies from over 4,000 years ago have shown signs of TB disease. Evidence of TB has also appeared in biblical scripture.
Before the germ that causes TB was discovered in 1882, TB was known in popular terms as the "white plague" or "consumption". In the 19th century, the disease was so prevalent that it took on a strangely romanticized reputation. "Consumption" was thought to be a disease that particularly afflicted refined, spiritual persons such as artists, writers, and the cultural elite.
It is estimated that TB was responsible for 1 billion deaths worldwide during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Sanatorium Movement
Since the first effective drug for TB until not developed until 1943, for many years physicians tried a variety of remedies to deal with this scourge. The most common "remedy" for persons with TB was simple: lots of fresh air, bed rest, and good nutrition. These three tenets were embodied in the TB sanatorium movement that originated in the 1850's in Germany. This movement took hold in the United States after 1884, when sanatoriums were built and TB patients were removed from the general population to live in these sanatoriums. By 1938, there were over 700 sanatoriums in the U.S.
While removal of infectious persons to sanatoriums probably helped to curb the transmission of TB to healthy individuals, for persons already afflicted with TB, removal to a sanatorium often only meant removal away from family members to a hospital-like setting to recover or die. When fresh air and bed rest did not result in an improvement, physicians sometimes performed surgery or collapsed a lung in a futile effort to restore the patient's health. Since TB was so rampant during this time, there were numerous other touted "cures" for TB.
The Birth of the American Lung Association
The beginnings of what is now known as the American Lung Association had its roots in the fight against TB. In 1902, the Committee on the Prevention of Tuberculosis of the Charity Organization of New York City was formed to educate the public about TB and advance the movement for hospitals and sanatoriums for TB patients. This group served as one of the precursors for a national TB association that was formed in 1904, called the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis. Over the years, the Association has gone through some name changes, from the National Tuberculosis Association to what is now known as the American Lung Association.
