Tuberculosis: The White Plague’s Long Shadow

Tuberculosis—once known as the "White Plague"—was one of the deadliest and most misunderstood diseases in history. In this episode of Micro Mysteries, we explore how TB haunted 19th-century cities, inspired tragic art and literature, and was wrongly seen as a "romantic illness." But behind the myth was a slow-moving, stealthy microbe: Mycobacterium tuberculosis—also known as Koch's bacillus.🎙️ Discover how Robert Koch’s groundbreaking identification of the bacterium changed everything, how the BCG vaccine and streptomycin gave us powerful tools to fight back, and why drug-resistant TB remains a serious global threat today.🔬 Join us for a journey through science, history, and humanity’s ongoing battle with one of its oldest microbial foes.