Tuberculosis - the sneaking death
This rather nasty disease has demonstrably been around since the Paleolithic and is mostly known as a bacterial lung disease. There is also bone and organ tuberculosis, but that is not of interest here. As mentioned above, it has been known since the Palaeolithic period, which is why this disease was given several names, even though it was not really known what it was. It was called “phthisis” in ancient Greece, “tabes” in ancient Rome, and “schachepheth” in ancient Hebrew. In the 1700s, it was called “the white plague” due to the paleness of the patients. Tuberculosis was commonly called “consumption” in the 1800s even after Schönlein named it tuberculosis. During this time, it was also called the “Captain of all these men of death.”
sickly young woman sits covered up on a balcony; death (a ghostly skeleton clutching a scythe and an hourglass) is standing next to her; representing tuberculosis. Watercolour by R. Cooper, ca. 1912 (x)
Even though it was already rampant in earlier times and could also affect animals, it only became a mass disease in the 18th and 19th centuries. The reason for this was the rural exodus that drove people into the cities, which, however, increased unemployment, hunger and the emergence of slums. This was the perfect breeding ground for tuberculosis, which spreads via droplets.
Now many of the Sailors also came from such neighbourhoods and so the disease also came on board. In this adverse environment, the disease could quickly spread to others and killed many on board. This forced the surgeons to deal with this problem even more thoroughly. But mostly they were helpless. As tuberculosis is a bacterial disease, it could only be treated with antibiotics, but these were not available at the time. Robert Koch named the pathogen 1882, but there was no effective antibiotic until 1943.
In the course of the 18th century, doctors discovered that plenty of fresh air and especially cool air was good for the lungs. (Therefore, from the 19th century onwards, there were also lung sanatoriums on the coast and in the mountains to cure the patients.) Therefore, even infected sailors should often work in the fresh air, which brought some relief, but only delayed the inevitable. The affected person initially shows the symptoms of a cold that worsen as the disease progresses. But this can also take years before a patient shows any symptoms at all. By then, the lungs have begun to encapsulate the bacteria and are not contagious and the patient can live with it for years. Only at a later stage do the bacteria eat holes in the lung tissue, causing the patient to cough up bloody mucus. From then on, it is not long before the patient simply suffocates. To counteract this, surgeons developed various treatments such as cod liver oil, vinegar massages, and inhaling hemlock or turpentine were all treatments for tuberculosis in the early 1800s. But unfortunately it was not successful.
Since tuberculosis patients are highly contagious as soon as they start coughing up mucus, almost everyone soon became infected. This included the surgeons themselves. This is how Surgeon William Anderson came to be infected at the age of 28 on the third voyage under James Cook. And a very famous example of tuberculosis was the Franklin expedition. Four men were sent back from Greenland because two were sick and two were useless. But one of them had acute tuberculosis. His doctor had sent him along to recover in the Arctic. A bad mistake, because already on Beechey Island, three men who had died of pneumonia caused by tuberculosis had to be buried there. John Torrington weighed only 38.5 kg and his lungs were badly affected. The same was true of John Hartnell and William Braine, although they were not quite so emaciated. If the sick Sailor who was sent back had managed to infect his comrades and there had already been three deaths, then one could assume that others on board the Erebus and the Terror had also fallen ill as a result of the frequent mutual visits. The emerging scurvy had weakened the men and therefore many certainly also fell victim to tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is a very dangerous disease that can be treated nowadays, although not everywhere if there is a lack of medication. It should not be underestimated and costs the lives of more than a million people every year.
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