Topics > Healthcare > Infectious Diseases > Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious infectious disease which attacks the lungs and other parts of the body. It is caused by certain strains of bacteria, especially mycobacterium tuberculosis, and is spread by airborne droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person. Symptoms can include persistent coughing, phlegm with blood, night sweats and fever.(NHS Choices).
History: TB was a major public concern in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the early 1800s around a quarter of all deaths in England were due to TB, known then as "consumption". It was most concentrated in the urban poor. It wasn't until the 1880s that TB was determined to be contagious, after which infected people went to a TB 'sanatorium' or 'fever hospital', many of which resembled prisons. Examples in the North East included Hebburn Fever Hospital and the TB sanatorium in the City Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Walker. Local heroine, Grace Darling died from TB in Bambrugh in 1842.
As living conditions and sanitation improved, the rates of TB in Britain began to reduce. In 1946, the antibiotic streptomycin was developed and provided an effective treatment for TB. Also, with the establishment of the NHS after World War 2 public vaccination programmes against TB, using the BCG vaccine, drastically reduced incidence of the disease.
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Tyne and Wear HER(7524): Low Fell, Joicey Road Open Air School
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"The Joicey Road Open-Air School for "sickly" children was proposed in 1924 but not opened until 1937. This is a rare and well-preserved, if late, example of an …
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Image from page 152 of "A Reference handbook of the medical sciences embracing the entire range of scientific and practical medicine and allied science" (1900)
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The White Plague: A Social History of Tuberculosis - Professor Sir Richard J. Evans
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Twenty-first Century Threats: Tuberculosis - Professor William Ayliffe
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Stannington Sanatorium Reel 2 (1920-1930)
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L0074279 Plate VI; Tuberculosis, lung with abscesses & gangrene
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V0017058 A sickly female invalid sits covered up on a balcony ov
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![Grace Darling (1815 - 1842)](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5557/14782567425_e3cb8b0e57_z.jpg)
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Grace Darling (1815 - 1842)
- Overview Further Information Timeline Grace Horsley Darling was born in Bambrugh in 1815. Grace was a lighthouse keeper's daughter and spent much of her life living on the Farne Islands; …
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L0038314 Francisque Crôtte applying his electrical remedy for
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L0074300 Man suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, Baumgartner,
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![Wooley Sanatorium](https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/67/91/1679158_0dafd997.jpg)
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Wooley Sanatorium
- Wooley Sanatorium opened as a dedicated tuberculosis (TB) hospital in c.1922. It is said that the site was used to treat gas attack victims during the First World War, prior to …
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Barrasford Sanatorium (1907 - 1960)
- Overview Map "In 1906 the Newcastle and Northumberland branch of the National Association for the Prevention of Consumption raised funds to establish a sanatorium at Camp Hill, Gunnerton near Barrasford, …
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from http://www.twsitelines.info/S…
Tyne and Wear HER(7524): Low Fell, Joicey Road Open Air School
- Sitelines -
"The Joicey Road Open-Air School for "sickly" children was proposed in 1924 but not opened until 1937. This is a rare and well-preserved, if late, example of an …
Added by
Simon Cotterill
![](https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2922/14596774057_6093b35171_z.jpg)
from Flickr (flickr)
Image from page 152 of "A Reference handbook of the medical sciences embracing the entire range of scientific and practical medicine and allied science" (1900)
Pinned by Simon Cotterill
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rV-Q35ZyEGg/hqdefault.jpg)
from Youtube (youtube)
The White Plague: A Social History of Tuberculosis - Professor Sir Richard J. Evans
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![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z2D0bD-FmC0/hqdefault.jpg)
from Youtube (youtube)
Twenty-first Century Threats: Tuberculosis - Professor William Ayliffe
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![](https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/nbbD7l0nmks/hqdefault.jpg)
from Newcastle University (youtube)
Stannington Sanatorium Reel 2 (1920-1930)
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![](/uploads/pics/67/67664.jpg)
from Flickr (flickr)
L0074279 Plate VI; Tuberculosis, lung with abscesses & gangrene
Pinned by Simon Cotterill
![](/uploads/pics/67/67665.jpg)
from Flickr (flickr)
V0017058 A sickly female invalid sits covered up on a balcony ov
Pinned by Simon Cotterill
![Grace Darling (1815 - 1842)](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5557/14782567425_e3cb8b0e57_z.jpg)
  Co-Curate Page
Grace Darling (1815 - 1842)
- Overview Further Information Timeline Grace Horsley Darling was born in Bambrugh in 1815. Grace was a lighthouse keeper's daughter and spent much of her life living on the Farne Islands; …
![](/uploads/pics/67/67668.jpg)
from Flickr (flickr)
L0038314 Francisque Crôtte applying his electrical remedy for
Pinned by Simon Cotterill
![](/uploads//pics/67/67671.jpg)
from Flickr (flickr)
L0074300 Man suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, Baumgartner,
Pinned by Simon Cotterill
![Wooley Sanatorium](https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/01/67/91/1679158_0dafd997.jpg)
  Co-Curate Page
Wooley Sanatorium
- Wooley Sanatorium opened as a dedicated tuberculosis (TB) hospital in c.1922. It is said that the site was used to treat gas attack victims during the First World War, prior to …
![Barrasford Sanatorium (1907 - 1960)](https://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/06/05/30/6053097_64f0bd28.jpg)