Tuberculosis often spreads from the lungs to other parts of the body, or
may first appear in other parts of the body. These include the spine
and other bones, meninges of the brain and spinal cord, kidneys, female
reproductive organs, abdonminal cavity, skin, intestines, adrenal
glands, blood vessels, and miliary TB, which means you have it
throughout the body.
About a third of the world's population has latent TB, but if you live a
healthy lifestyle, you have about a 90% chance of never developing
active TB and of dying in old age of something else entirely.
Pre-antobiotic treatments often consisted of doing things that we'd
interpret as boosting the immune system--good food, lots of rest, and so
on--and of making sure the patient breathed clean air. I think sometimes
this managed to push the disease back into the latent stage. Now they
give you cocktails of about five or six drugs (I think usually only two
or three of them at once), some of which have unpleasant side effects.
The drugs usually push the disease back into the latent stage in only a
few weeks, but it takes anywhere from six months to two years to kill
all the bacteria.
The modern drug treatment for latent TB is about the same as for active
TB. Usually they don't even bother treating latent TB except for
high-risk patients. My husband and I have both had it almost all our
lives, and so probably have other members of h-costume, whether they
know it or not. Latent TB is not contagious, and there is no way to tell
whether someone has it without modern tests. The bacillus just sits
there, and you notice absolutely no effects whatever. Thankfully, the
drug industry is trying to develop more effective drugs for it.
Fran
Lavolta Press Books on Historic Costuming
http://www.lavoltapress.com
monica spence wrote:
Eleonora had TB of the lungs. Contemporary commentators (Cellini, for
instance) talked and wrote about how she coughed and brought up blood. And
she was notoriously stubborn about accepting medical treatments. OTOH, She
daily drank a quart of mineral water from a thermal spring to help her. Not
that there was much they could do at the time...
Monica
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Lavolta Press
Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 9:33 PM
To: Historical Costume
Subject: Re: [h-cost] iron corset
TB is not just a lung disease; you can get tuberculosis of the spine.
Fran
monica spence wrote:
Eleonora di Toledo used these (probably) in the early yaers of her
infection
with TB (Circa 1550). She insisted on being out in public with her husband
Duke Cosimo I de Medici and she wore these under her gowns so her posture
would stay erect. It is possible that she was worried bad posture might
set
off a coughing fit-- perhaps she did not wish to appear ill or weak.
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