Tuberculosis--historical landmarks.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) since time immemorial has inflicted most miseries in mankind. In ancient times TB was called by many names but the modern one comes from the word 'tubercle'. TB as Pott's disease was widely prevalent among Egyptians in 3700-1000 BC. Hippocrates (460-377 BC) recognised symptomatology of TB. The name tuberculosis was first used by Lanneac and Bayle in early 19th century. Robert Koch in 1882 AD discovered tuberculosis bacillus. Calmette and Guerin laid the foundation BCG vaccination. In 1943, chemotherapy began with the advent of streptomycin (SM) followed by PAS in 1946 and then INH in 1951. Short course chemotherapy results were published in mid 1970s.