nfections that today are merely inconveniences were considered deadly and incurable. Before the advent of effective treatments, bacteria were capable of holding human populations captive for incredible lengths of time.
             Tuberculosis, an infectious disease caused by a germ called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, may be the greatest example of this, as it has plagued mankind for thousands of years. Evidence of tuberculosis dates back to 2400 BC, when it was shown to have caused pathological decay in individuals. Researchers have found evidence of tuberculosis in mummified remains of Egyptians of that period. It continued to torment mankind and has been the subject of great interest to people from Hippocrates (460 BC), who described TB, known to him as "phthisis" (gr Consumption) as the "most widespread disease of the time," to many of the greatest physicians through the 1950's and again today. Tuberculosis lost much of its deadly power when in 1943, successful treatment of tuberculosis became both possible and available via the antibiotic streptomycin. Similarly successful treatments have been developed for many of man
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