The Return of a Forgotten Killer
In the last two centuries, tuberculosis has claimed more lives than any other disease: an unprecedented and unsurpassed death toll of one billion. And, despite a compelling economic and moral case for investing more in controlling the disease, it has quietly resumed its position as the world’s leading infectious killer.
PRAGUE – Once, tuberculosis was one of the world’s greatest preoccupations. Consumption, as it was known, killed indiscriminately, claiming luminaries like Franz Kafka, John Keats, and US President James Monroe. In the last two centuries, TB has claimed more lives than any other disease: an unprecedented and unsurpassed death toll of one billion.