19th century and early 20th century. By 1930 the United States had 600 sanatoriums with a total of 84,000 beds. Trudeau also established the Trudeau Laboratory, which during the following 50 years, was responsible for training most physicians versed in the treatment of TB.Early in the 19th century TB was considered a refined disease, one that affected artistic, morally superior individuals. But as the epidemic continued and claimed a larger circle of people, often the poor and disadvantaged, the victims themselves were blamed, and in the absence of scientific knowledge, TB was attributed to a person's lifestyle.Scientific pursuit of the true nature of TB continued. In 1882 German physician Robert Koch discovered the bacteria that caused TB. Using simple but precise observations and experiments, Koch demonstrated the presence of the bacteria and how it was transmitted.In Paris, French bacteriologists Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin worked with a virulent strain of bovine (cow) tubercle bacillus at the Pasteur Institute. In 1924 they prepared the BCG vaccine in hopes of protecting the world against tuberculosis. It was administered to a newborn child who was at high risk of developing TB. The vaccine was successful, and the child never contracted the disease. In 1944 American microbiologist Selman Waksman isolated streptomycin from a fungus, Streptomyces lavendula, heralding the beginning of modern antibiotic therapy for TB.The success of drug therapy and the declining rates of disease incidence and mortality over the next 30 years instilled a sense of confidence in public health officials that TB could be conquered. As antibiotic therapy became the primary treatment, mortality rates from TB decreased significantly. Deaths from TB in the United States dropped from 188 per 100,000 in 1904 to about 1 per 100,000 in 1980. From 1953 to 1984, the average annual decline in cases was about 5 percent per year. As a result, funding for public h...
