elainegrey

This is a fascinating paper:

Merrill, Ray M., Spencer S. Davis, Gordon B. Lindsay, and Elena Khomitch. “Explanations for 20th Century Tuberculosis Decline: How the Public Gets It Wrong.” /Journal of Tuberculosis Research/ 4, no. 3 (August 9, 2016): 111–21. https://doi.org/10.4236/jtr.2016.43014.

I found it looking for a graph of the rate to TB in the US in the 20th century. This graph shows deaths. You have to take the authors' word for it that "The decline of tuberculosis in the United States is similar to that in England and Wales." They note, " Even with the use of the BCG vaccine in England and Wales, and the use of streptomycin in the United States, there was not a significant change in the rate of decline of tuberculosis deaths"

They put much of the decrease in TB deaths on improved living conditions, hygiene, and nutrition which reduced the transmission and strengthened people's immune system. Apparently there was lots of spitting in public.

I'm pretty sure this last round of public health training failed to get me washing my hands for twenty seconds, but i did get the elbow message.