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Tuberculosis and BCG

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Vaccines: A Biography

Abstract

Tuberculosis occurred in humans probably as early as 8,000 bc in its sporadic form. Indeed, it is mentioned in India’s Vedas, the most sacred texts of Hinduism, and later by Hippocrates, Celse D’Aretée de Cappadoce (170 bc), and Avicene (Calmette 1923; Calmette et al. 1928). Recently, genetic studies of the tubercle bacillus have found its progenitor to come into existence possibly as early as 35,000 bc (Gutierrez et al. 2005). Tuberculosis became an epidemic problem once humans settled and crowded into permanent, food-producing social networks. Thus, Egyptian mummies from the Rhamses period (3,000 bc) showed spinal deformities consistent with tuberculosis – Pott’s disease. Hippocrates used the term “phthisis,” the Greek term for “consumption,” to describe the wasting away experienced by individuals with tuberculosis. Swollen cervical lymph nodes were known as “scrofula” or the “King’s Evil” in England (Artenstein et al. 1995). The belief that they could be healed by the King’s touch, although coincidentally true in some cases, likely had more to do with host immune responses than regal intervention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Pasteur Paris, Paris, France

    Marina Gheorghiu, Micheline Lagranderie & Anne-Marie Balazuc

Authors
  1. Marina Gheorghiu
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  2. Micheline Lagranderie
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  3. Anne-Marie Balazuc
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Micheline Lagranderie .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Medicine & Community Health, Brown University, Providence, 02912, U.S.A.

    Andrew W. Artenstein

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Gheorghiu, M., Lagranderie, M., Balazuc, AM. (2010). Tuberculosis and BCG. In: Artenstein, A. (eds) Vaccines: A Biography. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1108-7_8

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