Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T06:21:43.203Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

LESSONS FROM HISTORY OF SOCIOECONOMIC IMPROVEMENTS: A NEW APPROACH TO TREATING MULTI-DRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 October 2013

K. L. HOLLOWAY ,
K. STAUB ,
F. RÜHLI  and
M. HENNEBERG
K. L. HOLLOWAY*
Affiliation:
Biological Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy Research Unit, University of Adelaide, Australia
K. STAUB
Affiliation:
Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, Zürich, Switzerland
F. RÜHLI
Affiliation:
Centre for Evolutionary Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, Zürich, Switzerland
M. HENNEBERG
Affiliation:
Biological Anthropology and Comparative Anatomy Research Unit, University of Adelaide, Australia
*
1Corresponding author. Email: khollo@barwonhealth.org.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This study investigated the trends in tuberculosis mortality through time in Switzerland. Information on the decline in mortality before chemotherapies were introduced may be useful in developing countries where drug-resistant tuberculosis is now becoming a major problem. Swiss data were collected from historical records and comparative data were obtained from the literature for England and Wales, New York, Japan, Brazil and Sierra Leone. Logistic curves were fitted to examine the rate of decline before introduction of pharmacotherapies and these show that the decline would have continued without the introduction of chemical therapies, including antibiotics. In Switzerland, England and Wales and New York, the decline had occurred long before the introduction of specific anti-tuberculosis agents. In Brazil and Japan, chemical therapy was co-incident with the decline in tuberculosis mortality rates. Overall, it is suggested that the effective control of tuberculosis can be achieved through a combination of chemical interventions, conservative therapy (rest, good nutrition, ventilation, etc.) as well as public health interventions addressing hygiene, nutrition, reducing exposure to infections and educating the population about tuberculosis.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 46 , Issue 5 , September 2014 , pp. 600 - 620
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antunes, J. L. F. & Waldman, E. A. (1999) Tuberculosis in the twentieth century: time-series mortality in São Paulo, Brazil, 1900–97. Cadernos de Saúde Pública 15(3), 463–476.Google Scholar
Blower, S. M., Mclean, A. R., Porco, T. C., Small, P. M., Hopewell, P. C., Sanchez, M. A. & Moss, A. R. (1995) The intrinsic transmission dynamics of tuberculosis epidemics. Nature Medicine 1(8), 815–821.Google Scholar
Canton of Zürich (2012) Staatsarchiv.Google Scholar
Cole, S. T., Eisenach, K. D., Mcmurray, D. N. & Jacobs, W. R. Jr (eds) (2005) Tuberculosis and the Tubercle Bacillus. ASM Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Drolet, G. J. & Lowell, A. M. (1952) A Half Century's Progress Against Tuberculosis in New York City: 1900–1950. New York Tuberculosis and Health Association, New York.Google Scholar
Fairchild, A. L. & Oppenheimer, G. M. (1998) Public health nihilism vs pragmatism: history, politics, and the control of tuberculosis. American Journal of Public Health 88(7), 1105–1117.Google Scholar
Gesetzgebung: Zürich (1928) Anfrage des Stadtrates betr. Erlass von Vorschriften über die Wohnungsinspektion. Zürich, Switzerland. URL: http://www.staatsarchiv.zh.ch/internet/justiz_inneres/sta/de/home.htmlGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, A. J. F., Gelbart, W. M., Lewotin, R. C. & Miller, J. H. (2002) Modern Genetic Analysis: Integrating Genes and Genomes. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York.Google Scholar
Herzog, H. (1998) History of tuberculosis. Respiration 65(1), 5–15.Google Scholar
Johnston, W. (1995) The Modern Epidemic: A History of Tuberculosis in Japan. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.Google Scholar
Kaplan, C. J. (1959) Conservative therapy in skeletal tuberculosis: an appraisal based on experience in South Africa. Tubercle 40, 355–368.Google Scholar
Kaufmann, S. H. E. (2003) A short history of Robert Koch's fight against tuberculosis: those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Tuberculosis 83(1–3), 86–90.Google Scholar
McKeown, T. (1976) The Modern Rise of Population. Edward Arnold, London.Google Scholar
Maddison, A. (2003) Development Centre Studies: The World Economy: Historical Statistics. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), France.Google Scholar
Manjourides, J., Lin, H.-H., Shin, S., Jeffery, C., Contreras, C., Cruz, J. S.et al. (2012) Identifying multidrug resistant tuberculosis transmission hotspots using routinely collected data. Tuberculosis 92, 273–279.Google Scholar
Michael, P. (2013) Young woman's death sparks fears of a killer TB strain on our doorstep. The Courier Mail 15th March 2013.Google Scholar
Ritzmann-Blickenstorfer, H. (1996) Historische Statistik der Schweiz []. Chronos Verlag, Zürich, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Roberts, C. A. & Buikstra, J. (2003) The Bioarchaeology of Tuberculosis: A Global View on a Reemerging Disease. University Press of Florida, Florida.Google Scholar
Rucker, W. C. & Kearny, R. A. (1913) Tuberculosis in Switzerland: results of the campaign against the disease. Public Health Reports (1896–1970) 28(52), 2815–2829.Google Scholar
Schoch, T., Staub, K. & Pfister, C. (2011) Social inequality and the biological standard of living: an anthropometric analysis of Swiss conscription data, 1875–1950. Economics and Human Biology 10(2), 154–173.Google Scholar
Skrahina, A., Hurevich, H., Zalutskaya, A., Sahalchyk, E., Astrauko, A., Gemert, W. V.et al. (2012) Alarming levels of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Belarus: results of a survey in Minsk. European Respiratory Journal 39, 1425–1431.Google Scholar
Stadt Zürich (2012) Stadtarchiv. Stadt Zürich.Google Scholar
Stead, W. W. (2001) Variation in vulnerability to tuberculosis in America today: random, or legacies of different ancestral epidemics? International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease 5(9), 807–814.Google Scholar
Steinberg, J. (1996) Why Switzerland? (2nd edition) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Szreter, S. (1988) The importance of social intervention in Britain's mortality decline c. 1850–1914: a re-interpretation of the role of public health. Society for the Social History of Medicine 1(1), 1–38.Google Scholar
Wang, H., Lin, H. & Jiang, G. (2008) Pulmonary resection in the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: a retrospective study of 56 cases. Annals of Thoracic Surgery 86, 1640–1645.Google Scholar
Warren, P. (2006) The evolution of the sanatorium: the first half-century, 1854–1904. Canadian Bulletin of Medical History 23(2), 457–476.Google Scholar
Wilbur, A. K., Farnbach, A. W., Knudson, K. J. & Buikstra, J. E. (2008) Diet, tuberculosis, and the paleopathological record. Current Anthropology 49(6), 963–991.Google Scholar
Wilson, L. G. (2005) Commentary: medicine, population, and tuberculosis. International Journal of Epidemiology 34(3), 521–524.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2012) World Health Organization Tuberculosis Burden Estimates. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2013) The Five Elements of DOTS. WHO, Geneva.Google Scholar