WWI Trilogy

Navigating the Heartache WWI Brings

tuberculosis

Tuberculosis: Necessitated the Opening of Sanatoriums

May 30, 2016 By Melina Druga Off

Tuberculosis, also known as consumption, was a common disease in the 19th century. So common, in fact, that sanatoriums were opened for treatment of the disease. These institutions exposed patients to fresh air and provided proper nutrition; however, for many patients it was where they died.

Public campaigns were organized to stop spitting and encouraged people to seek medical attention.

Symptoms

Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria and is spread like the common cold through coughs and sneezes. It most commonly affects the lungs.

Symptoms include:

  • Fever
  • Blood tinged phlegm
  • Weight loss
  • Fatigue

Most people who have tuberculosis are asymptomatic.

Famous Deaths

Tuberculosis claimed the lives of many in the Victorian and Edwardian eras with a death rate of up to 50 percent for those showing symptoms.

Some notable people who died of the disease before 1920 include:

  • Jane Austen
  • Emily Bronte
  • Anne Bronte
  • Henry David Thoreau
  • John Keats
  • Anton Chekhov
  • Alexander Pope
  • Stephen Crane
  • Gavrilo Princip
  • Frederic Chopin
  • President Andrew Jackson
  • President James Monroe
  • Louis Braille
  • First Lady Caroline Harrison
  • First Lady Hannah van Buren
  • King Henry VII
  • King Edward VI
  • Dred Scott
  • Doc Holliday
  • Pocahontas

Today, tuberculosis kills millions globally each year, most in developing nations without access to antibiotics.

Where to Purchase the WWI Trilogy

This post is a companion piece to Melina Druga’s WWI Trilogy: Angel of Mercy, Those Left Behind and Adjustment Year.  The trilogy focuses on Hettie and her family as they navigate the challenges and heartbreak World War I brings.

Angel of Mercy:  A nurse reluctantly sacrifices her career for marriage. An impending war will change her, and her husband’s, life forever.  Available in eBook, paperback and hardcover.  Click here for a full list of retailers.

Those Left Behind:  The brewing winds of war will soon rip the family apart. Available in eBook, paperback and hardcover.  Click here for a full list of retailers.

Adjustment Year:  A war nurse returns home. Society expects her to carry on as if the Great War never happened. But how can she?  Available in eBook, paperback and hardcover.  Click here for a full list of retailers.

CategoryMedical History
Tagsdiseases

About The Author

Melina Druga writes about the past because although school history classes may have been boring, the past was not.  Her era of expertise, and obsession, is 1890-1920 with a particular focus on the Great War and how it affected the lives of ordinary people.  Druga is the author of the WWI Trilogy.