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.
(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 |
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