Captain of death : the story of tuberculosis

The re-emergence of tuberculosis as a major American public health hazard has focused much attention on the ancient disease.

This book offers a comprehensive account of the disease from prehistoric times through to the present day, detailing the attempts to eradicate it completely.

Its four separate sections (the spread of tuberculosis; its infectious nature; suseptibility to it; and methods of treatment) are linked through the device of presenting individuals' particular experience of the disease, whether as victims, or as those who made contributions to our knowledge of it; in between these vignettes, the book unfolds the history and explains the pathogensis of TB.