A disease known since ancient times, tuberculosis (TB) thrived in Victorian Britain, with its increasing population, overcrowded living conditions and polluted environment. The 'white plague' could affect numerous parts of the body, including the joints, the skin and the glands of the neck (scrofula, also known as the King's evil). However, the most frequently attacked organs were the lungs, resulting in pulmonary TB (consumption, or phthisis). Patients with pulmonary TB were called consumptives, because it appeared that their wasting bodies were literally being consumed by the disease.
TB is a highly infectious disease but, until the late Victorian period, it was not known what caused it or
