Page 194 - ירושלים: גיליון רפואי

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Name of disease: Tuberculosis

Cause and Tuberculosis is caused by a strain of bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
transmission which was discovered in 1882. One of the most contagious diseases in the world,
pulmonary tuberculosis is transmitted when people infected with tuberculous
pneumonia cough or talk and release droplets bearing the bacteria into the air,
transmitting them to people nearby. Gastrointestinal tuberculosis is contracted by
drinking unpasteurized milk. About one-third of the world’s population is infected
with tuberculosis bacteria; each year nine million more contract the disease and
about three million die from it. In recent years tuberculosis has become more
common due to the AIDS epidemic, declining conditions among the poor and in
the special resources required to treat tuberculosis, and due to population mobility,
emigration for example.

Symptoms Pulmonary tuberculosis, which is the most common form of the disease, presents
and with fever, night sweats, weight loss, cough with bloody sputum and fatigue. Left
progression untreated (as it was until the 1950s), people su ered from these symptoms for
prolonged periods and after several months they would either die or – less frequently
– recover. Without treatment, particularly in young children, the disease can cause
meningitis and a disseminated form of the disease called miliary tuberculosis.

Treatment In the early 20th century, the treatment for tuberculosis was sunshine, rest and
and nourishing food, and so su erers were sent to a tuberculosis sanatorium. In the 1940s
medications and 1950s anti-tuberculosis drugs were developed, treatment with which took two
years. Over the years more e cient drugs have been found, and today treatment for
the disease is more rapid and e cacious.

Notes Many famous people have been victims of tuberculosis, among them are the writers
Anton Chekov, Honoré de Balzac, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Albert Camus, Molière,
Franz Kafka, and the Hebrew poetess Rachel. Among musicians, tuberculosis victims
included Frédéric Chopin and Niccolò Paganini, among artists, Paul Gauguin and
Amedeo Modigliani.
In 1993, for the rst time in the history of the disease, the World Health Organization
declared a tuberculosis global health emergency. In 1996 in Israel, following an
increase in tuberculosis, the health minister declared it a “dangerous infectious disease,”
based on public health regulations from 1940.

Name of Prof. Galia Rahav, specialist in Signature
physician infectious diseases and microbiology

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