A person by the name of Franciscus de la Boe, better known as Dr. Silvius became the first person to be associated with Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that is has been around for more than 5000 years. The disease developed into the plague in the Western civilization and became the number one cause for the extinction of mankind. The classification of the tubercle disease as the causative agent in 1882 firmly recognized the infectious nature of the disease and the development for facilities for isolation soon followed (www.wits.ac.za). Back then the way a person dealt with Tuberculosis included rest, diet, and various surgical procedures, which they rarely benefited from. "Here are some of the common names used over the centuries for M. tuberculosis-related diseases"(www.wits.ac.za.):.
• Consumption-Tuberculosis.
• King's evil-Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands.
• Long/Lung sickness-Tuberculosis.
• Lupus Vulgaris-Tuberculosis of the skin.
• Mesenteric disease-Tuberculosis of lymph glands the abdomen. An illness of children caused by drinking un-pasteurized milk from tuberculosis-infected cows.
• Phthisis-Chronic wasting away, the original Greek name for tuberculosis.
• Pott's disease-Tuberculosis of the spine.
• White plague-Tuberculosis.
Etiological Agent.
The causative agent for Tuberculosis is Mycobacterium. The Mycobacterium chains consist of 60-90 carbons in length. The physical setting of cell envelope elements leads to the exposure of selected structural motifs which in turn influence host-parasite interactions. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the exposed epitopes, several authors have studied the secreted proteins for M. tuberculosis using flow cytometric methods designed to define molecules on dispersed mycobacteria. The most unique method is labeling with a hydrophobic flourophore N-hexadecanoyl aminofluorescein a probe that could be inserted into the mycobacterial cell envelope, because it is rich in lipids (www.
