Veterinarska stanica, Vol. 51 No. 4, 2020.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.46419/vs.51.4.10
History of tuberculosis - from the first records to the detection of the agent (Part I)
Željko Cvetnić
; Croatian Veterinary Institute - Regional Department Križevci, Križevci, Croatia
Željko Dugac
; Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Croatia
Abstract
Tuberculosis is an ancient disease and has always been an essential part of the human community. Throughout history, it has left a deep mark not only in medicine, but also as a social phenomenon. Descriptive palaeopathology in the early 17th century began to describe changes caused by bone tuberculosis, and advancements in molecular biology decisively have contributed to the diagnosis of tuberculosis on ancient samples. Modern techniques of molecular genetics and genome sequencing enable a more precise estimate of the time of formation of mycobacteria. Current findings suggest that the tuberculosis agent is very old, older than the agents of the plague, typhoid or malaria. The oldest evidence of tuberculosis in humans was found on skeletons in Israel (Atlit Yam site; about 9000 BC). There is wide evidence of tuberculosis on mummy bones in ancient Egypt (2500 BC). In ancient Greece, there was a description of a disease called phthisis. Phthisis is synonymous with chronic lung tuberculosis, when the patient “dried up” in the terminal stages and resembled “skin and bones”. In the Middle Ages, a description of scrofula (tuberculosis adenitis of the neck), known as King’s evil, appeared to have long been believed to be cured by the king’s touch. In Croatia, morphological changes with bone tuberculosis - a kyphotic deformation - were discovered in graves in Ivankovo near Vinkovci, dating back almost to the 16th century. Teophile Laënnec, the French doctor who invented the stethoscope, gave detailed descriptions of the different stages of ausculation-based tuberculosis. French military surgeon Jean Antoine Villemin conducted a series of experiments to prove that tuberculosis is a contagious disease, and he was among the pioneers who contributed to understanding the disease. The history of tuberculosis was strongly characterized by Robert Koch, who discovered the cause of tuberculosis in 1882, receiving the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine in 1905 for his research and detection of the causes of tuberculosis. He died in 1910 in Baden Baden, Germany.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
238594
URI
Publication date:
12.6.2020.
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