The Old West wasn’t just terrifying because of stampedes or standoffs. For many, the scariest aspect of life at that time was the possibility of contracting tuberculosis, or tuberculosis as we know it today. according to TV showBy the nineteenth century, one in seven people had ever died from tuberculosis. Moreover, Old West He cites data from the Harvard Library estimating that 90% of people living in North America in the 19th century contracted tuberculosis, and 80% of them died.
To this day, tuberculosis remains a disease The 10 most common causes of death in the world. Mayo Clinic He writes that tuberculosis is a serious disease that primarily interferes with lung function. In modern times, we know that disease is spread when an infected person spreads germs into the air. However, in the 19th century, people believed that tuberculosis spread through the “air”, by 2023. condition Published in the American Clinical and Climatological Society. According to the Old West, in the 19th century, disease spread quickly between families because many people lived in close quarters.
The spread of the disease in those days became worse because the symptoms took some time to appear and the families did not understand that it was tuberculosis until it was too late. For many, symptoms began with a dry cough that became bloody as the disease progressed. They soon began experiencing significant weight loss, fever, loss of appetite, and fatigue. Since doctors in those days believed that illness was caused by weather conditions, they asked patients to try “the cure,” which arguably did little to help the issue.
Early treatment of tuberculosis was never much of a cure
So, How is tuberculosis treated?? the Center for Disease Control He points out that the modern treatment plan requires a months-long medical course that treats both active and inactive forms of the disease. But due to limited scientific progress and lack of knowledge about the disease in the nineteenth century, there was no specific drug treatment plan for this condition. According to National Trust for Historic PreservationOne of the primary treatment options for those affected by consumption was imprisonment in a sanatorium located on the outskirts of the cities. The idea was that the disease was spreading in cities due to unsanitary conditions.
At the sanatorium, patients relied on a combination of sunlight and fresh air to treat the disease. The Old West points out that “cure,” as this method of treatment was called in those days, was not naturally beneficial to patients, and the disease was incurable at that time. The only real benefit of these sanitariums was that people with tuberculosis could breathe clean country air instead of the polluted air coming from the cities.
Although sunlight did not serve as a cure for tuberculosis, ultraviolet rays could help kill the germs causing the condition and thus reduce the risk of transmission to sanatorium staff. It is also worth noting that one of the most famous figures in the Old West, Doc Holliday, was also a patient at the sanitarium. Holiday’s mother contracted and died from the disease, and she likely passed it on to him. Holiday died of tuberculosis at the age of 36. Fortunately, time has enabled us to be better Explaining tuberculosis, its causes and symptoms, and finding its treatments.
