tors tried many things like crushing the nerves in the area by the lungs, injecting air into the wall and the chest forcing a lung to collapse, and even tried to cut out the infected tissue of the lung. This type of surgery was attempted for other infected parts of the body. While these types of surgery helped some, millions still continued to die from TB.During the eighteenth and nineteenth century there was a huge outbreak of tuberculosis. During this time, a sanatorium was thought to be the best cure for people with TB. A sanatorium was a place where people with TB could live and would spend their time resting and sleeping in the fresh air. In the later developments, some sanatoriums even performed occupational therapy with their patients. Many of the sick patients were bored, lonely, and very unhappy. Thankfully, most sanatoriums closed between 1930 and 1950 because by then a cure for tuberculosis had been discovered. TB was responsible for five million deaths in the first half of the twentieth century.This real cure first came about in 1943. Albert Schatz a brilliant and dedicated student of a New Jersey University discovered a microbe that was later called streptomycin. Although this discovery was one of the most important milestones in medical history, Schatz was not recognized nearly as much for the accomplishment as his co-worker and teacher, Waksman who was the one who spread the word of the discovery. After this milestone was removed, many other cures were found and it seemed tuberculosis was on its way out.People were wrong though. Now, new varieties are appearing of TB, and the old antibiotics are not working like they used to. Beginning around 1985, the incidence of tuberculosis began to rise steadily and is still growing today. Today, antibiotics such as isoniazid, rifampin, and sometimes pyrazinamide are used to help treat TB. Doctors believe that the strains of tuberculosis today that are difficult to tre...
