Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis was first identified in Ancient Greece. The tubercle germ attacks the whole body but usually settles in the lungs. Tuberculosis causes a breaking down of the normal lung tissue and in the 19th century was responsible for about 25 per cent of all deaths in Britain. At that time it was generally known as consumption. The cause of the disease was discovered in 1882 and this enabled a vaccine to be developed. If a person does catch tuberculosis today it can usually be treated successfully with antibiotics.

Primary Sources

(1) Edwin Chadwick, The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population (1842)

Number of Deaths in 1838 and 1839

Disease

1838

1839

Typhus

24,577

25,991

Smallpox

16,268

9,131

Measles

6,514

10,937

Whooping Cough

9,107

8,165

Consumption

59,025

59,559

Pneumonia

17,999

18,151