“Finding myself at the deathbed of a loved one, I was surprised by the colours that death brought to her immobile face”, Claude Monet writes to his dying wife Camille.
Phthisis, the wasting away disease now called tuberculosis was described as a romantic disease in the 19th century when people had their loved ones infected by the virulent gram positive bacteria species called the Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is quite surprising that this disease which is presently a killer disease apart from the others, Malaria and HIV/AIDS was formally described as the positive way to die. This was expressed by Lord Byron as he writes in one of his letters “I should like to die from consumption” but unfortunately his wish was not fulfilled as he died from fever. Tuberculosis was formally called consumption, as they described the disease as one which consumes you.
The irony of the disease is the attractiveness it imputed in the dying patients. Believe, it or not, the women of old found the bony-faced, bulging-eyed and pale-skinned patients really attractive. This romantic disease, tuberculosis, prompted them to purposefully pale their skin to achieve a white “consumptive” appearance and also drop belladonna in their eyes to dilate their pupils. This could explain why tuberculosis was called “white plague”. All these extra effort was to achieve the luminous glow they felt tuberculosis gave. Apart from being called phthisis, white plague or consumption, it was also called scrofula, pott disease, con, lung fever and the list goes on and on.
It shouldn’t be a mystery what makes this disease a killer disease as it is a highly infectious disease which can be transmitted through the inhalation of airborne droplets. After inhalation, the bacteria leap for joy taking its journey down to the alveoli macrophage, where they are engulfed. There are two things involved; the weaklings are destroyed while the wise ones take advantage of the macrophages by feeding on them and replicating continuously within them until they burst the macrophage, leading to further infection. When this continues there is formation of granulomas which comprises of macrophages attempting to eliminate the bacteria and surge over the cells it has infected until they die.
As time goes on the centers of these granuloma begin to necrotize leading to the formation of a cheese yellow-white appearance on the lungs which is seen in the autopsy of person who died from the disease. This is described as a caseous necrosis which is not just particular to the lungs as the bacteria is seen to affect other organs which includes the kidney, liver and so on. Depending on the immune state of the individual’s different routes are taken by this disease, which could be a progression to an active tuberculosis or latent tuberculosis characterized by the scarring and calcification of the necrotized tissue.
Tuberculosis isn’t all that romantic as multiple deaths have been recorded worldwide with Nigeria being recorded as 10 out of 22 of the countries burdened with tuberculosis. There is no romance in phthisis.
IHEME BLESSING CHINYERE
400 L B
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