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Two of mankind's most horrible enemies were granted to me as an inheritance . . . tuberculosis and mental illness. . . . A mother who died young gave me a weakness for tuberculosis; an overly nervous father, so pietistically religious as to be almost insane . . . gave me the seeds of insanity. . . . Sickness followed me through my entire childhood and youth . . . And those I loved most died, one after the other.—Edvard Munch1(p14,15)
When 15-year-old Sophie Munch was ill with tuberculosis in 1878, her younger brother Edvard (1863-1944) worried that he was the source of her illness.2 It was 4 years before physician scientist Robert Koch would confirm that Mycobacterium tuberculosis was the causative agent. There was still an ongoing debate, especially in northern countries, about whether the origins of tuberculosis were hereditary or infectious. In December 1865, Jean Antoine Villemin (1827-1892) demonstrated its infectiousness in rabbits, but his report was assailed by Herman Pidoux, a leading physician, who was waiting . . . [Full Text of this Article]
James C. Harris, MD
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