Tuberculosis, aka TB, has been with us for ages, at lest 6,000 years in humans and 17,000 years in some animals. It primarily attacks the lungs, is contagious, and often fatal if untreated. Once known as consumption it became quite a scourge in Europe in the 1800s. It wasn't all that rare in the US either. Crowded living conditions, seriously facilitate its spread; like factories, office buildings, crowded sidewalks, buses, subways, stores, restaurants and the like. In short, urban living.

On March, 24, 1882, Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes it. A successful immunization against it using attenuated bovine TB bacteria was performed in 1906 and a vaccine called bacille Calmette–Guérin vaccine (BCG) was defeloped and administered to humans in France. It didn't really gain widespread acceptance in the US, Great Britain and Germany until after WWII (Louis Pasteur was, after all, French) This vaccine still exists and is still the only one in use AFAIK. There are allegedly ongaing attempts to develop better ones. The efficacy of the vacccine, as well as the information as to its efficacy, is all over the map. Streptomycin was developed in the forties and became a reliable treatment for TB, followed by other medications as well. Some sources state that the vaccine is no longer widely used in the US but I have no idea how true that is, nor why it might be (profitability always looms as a potentially determinative factor in the US' profit based illness and injury treatment industry.)

Most TB infections are latent. It is estimated that about a quarter of the world's population has been infected and that new infections occur in about 1% of the population each year. Luckily, about 90 to 05% of them remain latent. That, at least, is lucky Not so lucky is the fact that we are now faced with the emergence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). There are tests to check for latent TB and some occupations such as teaching require periodic testing, as do persons like myself who are on immunosuppressant drugs. The WHO (not the Who) declared TB to be a "global health emergency" in 1993, resulting in the formulation of assorted plans or projects to combat it.

Funny thing, a quick and dirty query regarding songs about "TB" resulted in numerous references to Jimmie Rodger's T.B. Blues and none to Leadbelly's T.B. Blues which are not only not the same song, but they aren't even remotely similar. Go figure.

On this day in history:

1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos,

1765 – Great Britain passed the Quartering Act, requiring the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.

1794 – Tadeusz Kościuszko announced a general uprising against Russia and Prussia, and assumed the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces.

1829 – The UK Parliament passed the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament

1854 – Venezuelan President José Gregorio Monagas abolished slavery in Venezuela.

1869 – The last of Tītokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.

1882 – Robert Koch announced the discovery of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium

1900 – The Mayor of New York broke ground for an underground railroad linking Manhattan and Brooklyn.

1921 – The 1921 Women's Olympiad began in Monte Carlo,

1922 – The McMahon killings take place in Belfast.

1934 – The Tydings–McDuffie Act was passed by the US Congress, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.

1944 – German troops massacred 335 Italian civilians in Rome.

1961 – The Quebec Board of the French Language was established.

1972 – The UK imposed direct rule on the British province at the North end of the island of Ireland

1976 – The Argentine armed forces overthrew the government of President Isabel Perón started a dictatorship

1980 – Roberto D'Aubuisson had El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero assassinated

1989 – The Exxon Valdez spilled 240,000 barrels of crude oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska

1993 – Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and David Levy

1998 – Two students fired upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas *

1998 – The first computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation was performed

1999 – NATO attacked Yugoslavia without UN Security Council approval because NATO does whatever it wants to

2003 – The Arab League voted 21–1 in favor of a resolution demanding an end to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

2008 – Bhutan officially became a democracy, with its first ever general election.

2018 – Students across the US staged the "March for Our Lives" demanding gun control

* For some unknown reason, this was not attributed to "crisis-actors", go figure.

Some people who were born on this day:

Women should unite upon a platform of opposition to the teaching and aim of that ever most unscrupulous enemy of freedom--the Church.

~~ Matilda Joslyn Gage

1820 – Edmond Becquerel, physicist and academic
1820 – Fanny Crosby, poet and composer
1823 – Thomas Spencer Baynes, philosopher and critic
1826 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, activist and author
1829 – Ignacio Zaragoza, general who beat the French Empire at the battle of Puebla
1830 – Robert Hamerling, poet and playwright
1834 – William Morris, textile designer, poet, and author
1834 – John Wesley Powell, soldier, geologist, and explorer (
1884 – Peter Debye, physicist and chemist,
1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, violinist and composer
1892 – Marston Morse, mathematician and academic
1893 – Walter Baade, astronomer and author
1901 – Ub Iwerks, animator, director, and producer, co-created Mickey Mouse
1903 – Adolf Butenandt, biochemist and academic,
1903 – Malcolm Muggeridge, journalist, author, and scholar
1911 – Joseph Barbera, animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera
1912 – Dorothy Height, educator and activist
1917 – John Kendrew, biochemist and crystallographer,
1919 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and publisher, co-founded City Lights Bookstore
1927 – John Woodland Hastings, biochemist and academic
1928 – Byron Janis, pianist and composer
1935 – Carol Kaye, legendary bass guitarist, wrecking crew member
1936 – Don Covay, singer and songwriter
1937 – Billy Stewart, singer and pianist
1941 – Michael Masser, songwriter, composer and producer
1946 – Klaus Dinger, guitarist and songwriter
\1948 – Lee Oskar, harmonica player
1949 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player
1949 – Nick Lowe, English singer, songwriter, bass player, and producer
1951 – Dougie Thomson, Scottish bass player
1956 – Bill Wray, American cartoonist and painter
1960 – Nena, German singer, songwriter and actress
1964 – Patterson Hood, singer and songwriter
1970 – Sharon Corr, Irish singer-songwriter and violinist[216]

Some people who died on this day:

Of the things which nourish the imagination, humour is one of the most needful, and it is dangerous to limit or destroy it.

~~ John Millington Synge

1776 – John Harrison, carpenter and clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer
1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet and educator
1905 – Jules Verne, novelist, poet, and playwright
1909 – John Millington Synge, playwright and poet
1915 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, astronomer
1915 – Karol Olszewski, chemist, mathematician, and physicist
1916 – Enrique Granados, pianist and composer
1926 – Phan Châu Trinh, activist
1946 – Alexander Alekhine, chess player
1962 – Jean Goldkette, pianist and bandleader
1962 – Auguste Piccard, physicist and explorer
2008 – Chalmers Alford, guitarist
2012 – Nick Noble, singer and songwriter

Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such:

World Tuberculosis Day (International)

Today's Tunes

World TB Day

Ignacio Zaragoza

John Wesley Powel

Dimitrie Cuclin

Byron Janis

Carol Kaye

Don Dovay

Michael Masser

Lee Oskar

Dougie Thomson

Nena

Sharon Corr

Bonus Carol Kaye
You have heard her play; she's been recorded some 10,000 times, some on guitar or 12 string, but mostly bass. Try guitar on Richie Valens' La Bamba, or the Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Loving Feeling, 12 string on Zappa's Freak Out Album, for a few. She was Phil Spector's favorite bassist, Dennis Wilsons' too. That bass that drives Sonny and Chers' The Beat Goes On? Nancy Sinatra's These Boots are made for Walking? Joe Cocker's Feeling Alright? All her.

Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. What's on your mind?

Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com

I will not be here when this posts

open thread, Tuberculosis, the Exxon-Valdez, Ignacio Zaragoza, Carol Kaye, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Jules Verne, Nena