No, "TB" Doesn't Refer to Tuberculosis on TikTok (2024)

FAQs

What was the nickname for TB? ›

In the 1700s, TB was called “the white plague” due to the paleness of the patients. TB was commonly called “consumption” in the 1800s even after Schonlein named it tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but TB bacteria can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine, and brain.

A hundred years ago, tuberculosis (TB) was the leading cause of death in the United States. These days, thanks to the development of effective treatments and a vigilant public health system, this deadly disease is largely controlled in the U.S. But TB is not gone—and it should not be forgotten.

Tuberculosis is preventable and curable. About a quarter of the global population is estimated to have been infected with TB bacteria. About 5–10% of people infected with TB will eventually get symptoms and develop TB disease. Those who are infected but not (yet) ill with the disease cannot transmit it.

The acronym "TB" is widely used on Instagram and can have different meanings depending on the context. It can stand for "Throwback", "Throwback Thursday", or "Text Back".

Consumption is another term for what is more commonly described as tuberculosis, a lung disease caused typically by the tubercle bacillus.

Today, tuberculosis is considered largely controlled in the U.S., but it is still a bigger threat than most people know. According to the CDC, there are an estimated 13 million people in the United States living with inactive TB.

Active, drug-sensitive TB disease is treated with a standard 6-month course of 4 antimicrobial drugs that are provided with information, supervision and support to the patient by a health worker or trained volunteer. The vast majority of TB cases can be cured when medicines are provided and taken properly.

Until COVID-19, tuberculosis was the world's deadliest infectious disease, killing about 1.5 million people annually. Contrary to public perception, the disease is still active in the United States.

Tuberculosis symptoms can seem to go away, but the illness often reactivates. Without treatment, tuberculosis can return. Tuberculosis treatment regimens last for months. Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that usually affects the lungs.

Did anyone survive tuberculosis in the 1800s? ›

[1] Very few recovered. Those who survived their first bout with the disease were haunted by severe recurrences that destroyed any hope for an active life.

Finding out you have TB can be an extremely unnerving and isolating experience. Imagine coughing up blood, being unable to sleep, and feeling nauseous, only to find out that you are carrying an infectious disease and will not be able to interact with your loved ones for weeks.

The idea of being quietly and inoffensively sick further explains why this disease was romanticized. The symptoms of tuberculosis were exponentially preferable to other epidemics and infection which ravaged 19th and 20th century society.

The Search for the Cure

In 1943 Selman Waksman discovered a compound that acted against M. tuberculosis, called streptomycin. The compound was first given to a human patient in November 1949 and the patient was cured.

Fact: Though TB is found more commonly among people in the low socio-economic strata (undernutrition being common), no section of society is immune to infection and disease. Fact: There are many risk factors which can cause TB such as HIV, diabetes, malnutrition and kidney disease, among others.

Here he depicts the social aspect of the disease, and its relation with Living conditions at the close of the 19th century. Throughout history, the disease tuberculosis has been variously known as consumption, phthisis, and the White Plague.

In the medical writings of Europe through the Middle Ages and well into the industrial age, tuberculosis was referred to as phthisis, the “white plague,” or consumption—all in reference to the progressive wasting of the victim's health and vitality as the disease took its inexorable course.

Tuberculosis disease, or phthisis (ϕθίσις, the Greek word for consumption), was named by the father of allopathic medicine, Hippocrates (c. 460–370 BCE), because the disease appeared to consume the affected person through substantial weight loss and wasting (1).

Black lung, or coal workers' pneumoconiosis, is caused by inhaling coal dust over a long period of time. The condition is most common in coal workers. Symptoms include coughing, difficulty breathing, and producing black mucus. Over time, the condition can lead to complications like tuberculosis, COPD, and lung cancer.