The evolution of an ancient disease: tuberculosis discoveries in the centuries

Riccardi, Niccolò; Canetti, Diana; Martini, Mariano; Diaw, Mama Moussa; Biagio, Antonio Di; Codecasa, Luigi; Barberis, Ilaria; Bragazzi, Nicola Luigi; Besozzi, Giorgio

doi:10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2020.61.1s1.1353

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Schachepheth, an ancient Hebrew term found in these fragments, reffered to a debilitating disease. This word, now known as schachefet in modern Hebrew, continues to denote tuberculosis [8,9]. However, the theory of tuberculosis as a separate lung disease did not emerge until the 18 th century, and earlier authors did not distinguish it from other debilitating diseases.…”

Section: Before Discovery Of Tuberculosis Bacillimentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis before two great discoveries of the 20th century: the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine and streptomycin

Adamowicz,

Łopuszyńska,

Zembala

et al. 2023

J Educ Health Sport

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Introduction and Purpose. Fundamental milestone in fight against tuberculosis is the invention of the effective vaccine, but before Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe the bacteria, which opened the door to the first vaccinations in the 19th century. Medicine had battled against infectious diseases in different ways. Some methods can be perceived as a kind of primitive vaccines, which couldn’t, however, considerably affect a decrease in the epidemic range, due to their uncommon use and limited effectiveness. The aim of this paper is to analyze the history of tuberculosis and the role of Poland in the fight against it. Materials and methods. PubMed database was used for review of the literature. The following phrases were searched in English: “tuberculosis”, “vaccination”, “BCG vaccine”, “sanatorium”. Description of the state of knowledge. Poland played an important role in the fight against tuberculosis. It was in the laboratory of Polish pharmacist, where Koch discovered its etiological factor. In the territory of Poland there are prototypes of modern sanatoria for tuberculosis patients. Article also presents old and modern methods of tuberculosis treatment, as the use of specific climatic conditions, which resulted in developing health-resort treatment. A breakthrough in the methods used was the discovery of streptomycin in the middle of the 20th century, which led to the development of pharmacological treatment, nowadays involving the administration of proper combinations of drugs. Summary. The increasingly strong anti-vaccine movement is slowly destroying what people have been fighting for the centuries. It is worth recalling how we reached milestones in this fight and why immunization is so important for all societies.

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Section: Before Discovery Of Tuberculosis Bacillimentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis before two great discoveries of the 20th century: the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine and streptomycin

Adamowicz,

Łopuszyńska,

Zembala

et al. 2023

J Educ Health Sport

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“…Affecting people for more than 40.000 years, TB poses never-ending issues in prevention and management, both from a medical and social standpoint. Awareness and knowledge of the disease have deeply improved over the years, but the "modern" history of TB began in 1882 when Robert Koch isolated Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (Mtb) for the first time [3,4]. This, together with the intuition of Rudolf Virchow of the multifactorial genesis of the disease, paved the way to a deeper understanding of transmission dynamics as well as optimizing prevention and treatment strategies [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How We Treat Drug-Susceptible Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Practical Guide for Clinicians

Riccardi,

Occhineri,

Vanino

et al. 2023

Antibiotics

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Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide and pulmonary TB (PTB) is the main variant responsible for fueling transmission of the infection. Effective treatment of drug-susceptible (DS) TB is crucial to avoid the emergence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-resistant strains. In this narrative review, through a fictional suggestive case of DS PTB, we guide the reader in a step-by-step commentary to provide an updated review of current evidence in the management of TB, from diagnosis to post-treatment follow-up. World Health Organization and Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) guidelines for TB, as well as the updated literature, were used to support this manuscript.

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