Tuberculosis as a Persistent Malady

Abstract

For the past 15 years, our laboratory has been actively engaged in delineating the mechanisms of the mycobacterial glycolipid trehalose 6, 6’-dimycolate (TDM) that initiate development of immunopathology during infection. On occasions that seem all too rare, we take the opportunity to delve into historical perspectives of disease to understand previous views of pathology which form the basis for molecular mechanisms that drive disease development and host responses. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria responsible for causing tuberculosis (TB), has been a societal scourge for much of recorded human history. Throughout recorded history, consumption has no bias to favor men of historical importance, although certainly men of power were not spared. English Kings (Henry VII, died 1509), French monarchs (Charles IX, 1574; Louis XIII, 1643; Louis XVII, 1795); and American Presidents (James Monroe, 1831; Andrew Jackson, 1845) were afflicted. Similarly, a life of creativity was no shelter from disease. Roman poets (Catullus; 54 BC), romantic composers (Frederic Chopin, 1949), and troubled painters (Edvard Munch, 1944) were just a few among the many creative individuals susceptible to disease. Philosophers (Immanuel Kant, 1804), mathematicians (Niels Abel, 1829), and authors (Henry David Thoreau, 1862; George Orwell, 1950) all succumbed to the acid fast pathogen. Even a life of stardom cannot shield the destructive actions of tuberculosis; Ringo Starr of Beatles fame needed a little help from his physician friends to overcome childhood TB.