Sanatoriums
Sanatoriums became the only chance for survival and the mechanism to reduce disease transmission for tuberculosis (TB).
- The treatment, established by Hermann Brehmer, included institutional isolation where fresh air, rest, and good nutrition served to rehabilitate the patient. Brehmer had experienced a similar cure for his TB by leaving his home in Germany and traveling to the Himalayas. After presenting his findings in his 1854 medical dissertation, he opened the first sanatorium to treat TB in a hospital in Germany. In the US, Edward Trudeau, another scientist and victim of the disease, established the sanatorium at Saranac Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, where TB research in the U.S. first began.
- These institutions isolated patients from the general population, allowing the person-to-person transmission to decline while promoting healing and recovery rapidly. Although there continued to be patients who did not survive, those who improved could return to their homes and resume healthy lives.
Immunization
In the early 1900s, two scientists working with an attenuated strain of M. bovis attempted to immunize humans. The strain was first inoculated to cattle, horses, rabbits, and guinea pigs. Named the bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine after researchers Calmette and Guerin, the vaccine continues to be protective in children living in high-burden countries.
