Spitting Blood by Helen Bynum
Tuberculosis is characterised as a social disease and few have been more inextricably linked with human history. There is evidence from the archaeological record that Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its human hosts have been together for a very long time. The very mention of tuberculosis brings to mind romantic images of great literary figures pouring out their souls in creative works as their bodies were being decimated by consumption. It is a disease that at various times has had a certain glamour associated with it.From the medieval period to the modern day, Helen Bynum explores the history and development of tuberculosis throughout the world, touching on the various discoveries that have emerged about the disease over time, and focussing on the experimental approaches of Jean-Antoine Villemin (1827-92) and Robert Koch (1842-1910). Bynum also examines the place tuberculosis holds in the popular imagination and its role in various forms of the dramatic arts. The story of tuberculosis since the 1950s is complex, and Bynum describes the picture emerging from the World Health Organization of the difficulties that attended the management of the disease in the developing world. In the meantime, tuberculosis has emerged again in the West, both among the urban underclass and in association with a new infection - HIV. The disease has returned with a vengeance - in drug-resistant form. The story of tuberculosis is far from over.
Helen Bynum has written a book not only full of diverting asides but also of urgent importanceRichard Horton, Guardian Highly recommended. M.L. Charleroy, CHOICE
Helen Bynum is a freelance historian and author of Tropical Medicine in the 20th Century. Together with William Bynum, she edited Great Discoveries in Medicine and the award winning Dictionary of Medical Biography (5 vols.).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780199542055 |
| ISBN 10 | 0199542058 |
| Title | Spitting Blood |
| Author | Helen Bynum |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2012-12-04 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |