treatment often causes bacterial resistance to drugs. Therefore, all recommended therapies include multiple drugs given for at least 6 months, often for as long as 9 to 12 months. Adjustments to the treatments are made based on susceptibility of the bacterial strain. A combination of antibiotics, including isoniazid, rifampin, streptomycin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol, is usually prescribed. In 1998, scientists successfully decoded the entire gene sequence, or genome, of the tuberculosis bacteria. This advance is likely to lead to the development of new methods for treatment and prevention of TB. V. History Print section TB has existed since at least 2000 BC, as shown by tubercles found in mummified bodies. References to TB can be found in the writings of ancient Babylonia, Egypt, and China. The term tuberculosis was first used in 1839, and it is derived from the Latin word tubercula, meaning small lump, referring to the small scars seen in tissues of infected individuals. TB reappeared in Europe and the United States in epidemic form in the 19th century.Significant research into the causes and cure of TB began in earnest in the early 19th century. French physician Gaspard Bayle described the damage caused by TB in 900 autopsies. Ren-Thophile-Hyacinthe Lannec, also a French physician, described the evolution of the disease from the initial tubercle through its final stages. J. A. Villemin, a French army doctor, showed that TB could be transmitted from humans to animals.The American physician Edward Trudeau was affected by the disease twice, in 1873 and 1876. When he thought he was dying, he traveled to Saranac Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York to spend his final days. When he found his symptoms eventually cured, he attributed his healing to the fresh air of the mountains. In 1885 Trudeau built the first American sanatorium. It later became a model for the many sanatoriums that became the mainstay of TB treatment in the late ...
