Short answers, pulled from the story.
Evidence of tuberculosis has been found in prehistoric human remains across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas dating back approximately 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Skeletal remains from 4000 BC show tubercular decay in the spines of prehistoric humans.
Robert Koch identified and described the bacillus causing tuberculosis on the 24th of March 1882. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1905 for this discovery.
In 2024, tuberculosis newly infected 10.7 million people and caused 1.23 million deaths. It is now the leading cause of death from an infectious disease globally.
People living with HIV are estimated 16 times more likely to fall ill with tuberculosis than those without HIV. In 2023, 6.1% of those becoming infected with tuberculosis were also infected with HIV.
In 1946, the development of streptomycin made effective treatment and cure of tuberculosis a reality. Prior to this medication, the only treatment involved surgical intervention like the pneumothorax technique which collapsed an infected lung.