There’s a new spotlight display in our London HQ, titled ‘Infection and Injustice: A Brief History of Tuberculosis in the UK’. The exhibition draws on the RCN’s historical print collection to explore the huge shifts in tuberculosis nursing in the UK, from the sanatoriums of the early-twentieth century, to present-day case management practices.
If you want to see the display for yourself, you can find it on the lower ground floor of the Library and Museum in London.
Tuberculosis (TB) has gone by many names, including scrofula, phthisis, and consumption. For much of its history, the disease was an unknown and terrifying force; in the 1850s, TB caused 1 in 7 British deaths. Today, the UK is classified as a low-incidence country for tuberculosis, and in 2023 only 8.5 cases were recorded for every 100,000 people. There are a variety of anti-tuberculosis drugs available to treat the disease when it does arise.
Despite that incredible progress, the story of TB isn’t over. In fact, it continues to be the world’s deadliest infectious disease, and caused 1.25 million deaths in 2023 alone. Health inequalities also mean that the disease disproportionately affects already vulnerable people. In the UK, this puts unhoused people at particularly high risk, and globally, 80% of cases and deaths are in low- and middle-income countries.
The display shows these two narratives in parallel- the very real progress made in the fight against TB, and the inequalities which prevent us from wiping out the disease entirely.
Image: Merivale Sanatorium, 1910. RCN Archive [BM/11/104]
