Tuberculosis Revisited or how we Nearly Conquered Tuberculosis

Abstract

This article recounts the author's experience as a chest physician in the years after the Second World War when Scotland experienced a serious epidemic of tuberculosis. With the discovery of streptomycin, PAS and isoniazid this disease became for the first time eminently treatable, and the team in Edinburgh demonstrated how the routine use of these three drugs in all cases ensured that the patient progressed to cure with virtually no cases of drug resistance. This policy, although fully supported by follow-up studies, was only very slowly adopted elsewhere, and since that time there have been numerous errors and difficulties in treatment regimens in many parts of the world. The result is that a great therapeutic opportunity has been lost and the Worldwide situation is worse than ever, mainly due to increased incidence of TB in the countries of the Third World.