Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Patrick Woodward.
Voice 2
And I’m Alice Irrizary. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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Voice 1
Juan Yareta first went to the hospital in 2003. His last visit was in 2015, for the same disease. Yareta had an infection in his lungs. It made it difficult to breathe. He felt weak all the time. Sometimes blood filled his mouth. But the doctors could not cure him for many years. Juan had a disease called tuberculosis.
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is on tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is an ancient disease. Experts have found evidence of human infection as far back as ancient Egypt. But the bacteria that causes the disease is probably much older. Experts believe it appeared four to six thousand years ago, in Africa. The disease then spread worldwide through trading. The disease also spread to animals. These animals then brought the disease to the Americas over a thousand years ago.
Voice 1
Even in those days, tuberculosis was deadly. Tuberculosis starts as a disease of the lungs. It spreads through the air. The disease infects cells that normally defend the body. Attacked areas often expand in size, damaging the lungs. People with tuberculosis have difficulty breathing. They feel weak, and may find blood in their mouths. Tuberculosis can also spread to other parts of the body. Even when cured, tuberculosis causes permanent damage. About half the people who show signs of tuberculosis die if they are not treated.
Voice 2
But tuberculosis is deadly for another reason: how it spreads. Tuberculosis does not spread quickly. But the disease infects many people in ways that do not show. This is called having latent tuberculosis. A person with latent tuberculosis has the disease within their body. It does not hurt them. But tuberculosis is hard to get rid of. It can start making someone sick at any time. About ten percent of people with latent tuberculosis show signs later. The disease can come back over and over again.
Voice 1
Tuberculosis has been a problem ever since it appeared. But the disease grew to its worst in Europe and North America during the 1800’s. In Europe, it was called the white plague. In North America, some called it the “Captain of All These Men of Death.” Experts believe that tuberculosis was responsible for twenty five percent of all deaths in the United States at that time. Franz Kafka was a German writer who died from tuberculosis. He wrote to his friend Max Brod about his sickness:
Voice 3
“Above all I am tired. I lie for hours barely awake. I am not doing well. The doctor does say that the trouble in the lung has improved. But I would say that it is far more than twice as bad. I have never had such a hard time breathing. I have never felt such weakness.”
Voice 2
Millions of other people experienced sickness like Kafka’s. But they would soon find hope. Robert Koch was a doctor from Prussia. This country contained what are today parts of Germany, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. Koch was the first person to discover what caused tuberculosis: a disease-causing bacteria. And in 1906, other scientists developed a vaccine for the disease. This injection would prevent tuberculosis infection. Koch wrote soon after his discovery:
Voice 4
“In the future the fight against this terrible disease of mankind will deal no longer with an unknown thing. It will deal with a real creature. Its living conditions are for the most part known. They will be investigated more.”
Voice 1
Other developments followed. Albert Shatz, Elizabeth Bugie, and Selman Waksman were American scientists. They discovered a substance called streptomycin in nineteen forty four. Streptomycin killed tuberculosis without hurting patients. Other drugs like it, called antibiotics, came quickly after. Together with vaccination, these drugs fought back against tuberculosis. These treatments reduced the number of people the disease killed by fifty one percent. It seemed as if the world had the tools to remove tuberculosis all together.
Voice 2
Sadly, these medicines were not enough. By the nineteen eighties, the tuberculosis bacteria started changing. It grew resistant to many drugs. Doctors needed new drugs to treat the disease. But scientists did not develop them. Tuberculosis seemed like it was almost gone. So money went to fight other diseases.
Voice 1
Tuberculosis started spreading in Africa and Asia, in countries that could not research the disease as quickly. Wealthier countries could have helped. But for these countries, the disease no longer seemed like a danger. Their streets were clean. Their children were safe. Aid went to other things. As a result, other countries suffered. Tuberculosis grew strong in places that were closely populated and where the people were poorest.
Voice 2
Another disease helped this spread. It is called HIV. HIV is a disease that attacks the body’s defensive cells. It makes it more difficult to fight other diseases. Tuberculosis takes advantage of these weakened defenses. Today, a third of all people infected with HIV also have tuberculosis. The disease causes forty percent of deaths related to HIV. In most years, tuberculosis kills more people than any other disease. The only bigger killer was COVID-19 in 2021 and 2022.
Voice 1
The risk of tuberculosis is still very high. But today, there is some hope. Research into new drugs for tuberculosis is ongoing. New drugs are not easy to find. But with more money, thesenew drugs could reduce the danger of tuberculosis.
Voice 2
There is also more testing being done in countries with a higher risk of the disease. Testing and treating those with the disease has worked before to prevent its spread. The world simply needs to renew its concern to defeat the disease. And it appears it may be doing so. Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus is the director of the World Health Organization. He said:
Voice 5
“Today we have the knowledge and tools. We have the political will. We can end this thousand year old disease that remains one of the world’s top killers.”
Voice 1
The world has previously eliminated diseases like smallpox. Can it do the same with tuberculosis? You can leave a comment on our website at www.spotlightenglish.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and X. You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Voice 2
The writer and producer of this program was Dan Christmann. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again, and read it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net.
Voice 1
This program is called, ‘Curing Tuberculosis’. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program.
Goodbye.
Question:
Have you met someone who has suffered from tuberculosis and was cured? Do you think the world can eliminate this disease as they have with similar diseases such as smallpox?
