1Tuberculosis (or tuberculosis) known as one of the deadliest diseases that humans have lived and died with for thousands of years. 2Throughout history there has been evidence of tuberculosis infections in ancient mummies discovered with decaying tuberculosis in the spinal region of the remains. 2Classical Greek texts describe a deadly disease that causes the body to decay from the inside out, and Native Americans fought this disease for centuries before coming into contact with Europeans. 1Consumption persisted throughout the Middle Ages and into medieval Europe. 1Europeans believed that scrofula (the inflammation of the lymph nodes in the neck caused by tuberculosis) could only be cured with the "royal touch", that is, simply by being touched by the monarch of England or France. 5"If the importance of a disease for humanity is measured by the number of deaths it causes, then tuberculosis must be considered much more important than the most feared infectious diseases, the plague, cholera and the like." (Robert Koch, Nobel Prize, 1905.) 1The spread of tuberculosis occurred in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. 3Usually people in this period blamed the disease on poor diet, poor air quality, witches and fairies, however, doctors began to better understand tuberculosis, linking tuberculosis of the lungs, scrofula and skin lesions to the same disease became difficult even without the right technology 2In 1882 Robert Koch isolated and identified the tuberculosis bacillus 1“One in seven human beings dies of tuberculosis.” (Robert Koch, Nobel Prize, 1905.) 1Koch established that the disease would spread through exposure to the tuberculosis germ 5If this changed the medical community's understanding of how to prevent and treat the... middle of paper.. .. ..ch doesn't just affect humans. 1Several strains of the TB bacterium that infect cattle (untreated milk was known to transmit the disease from cattle to humans before heat treatment and pasteurization), birds, fish, turtles, and frogs.1 It is estimated that TB in the two centuries (1700 to 1900), tuberculosis is responsible for the deaths of approximately one billion people.2 The annual mortality rate due to tuberculosis when Koch made his discovery known averaged seven million people.5 Although the disease has not been eradicated, there is no doubt that Robert Koch's discovery of the tubercle bacillus aided the research and development of drugs to treat infected and diseased individuals, as well as the resources and knowledge to prevent the spread of the disease. tuberculosis. 1Koch's discovery has had a profound impact on human history and has saved many lives today.