Eternal Enemy

Highly contagious, Tuberculosis is still killing 1.3 million people a year worldwide, with drug resistant strains being the cause of a third of deaths from the disease, with London having the highest incidence of TB than any city in Western Europe. The young man in this story contracted TB in 1943 while serving in the Royal Navy before any effective treatment became available when its victims were confined to TB Hospitals or sanatoria for months on end until they either recovered to the extent that they were no longer contagious, or died.. He was not finally cured until 1957 when he underwent surgery and completed a course of the drugs which had by then were in common use. His experiences therefore covered a significant period in the treatment of the greatest ever scourge of humanity. The story also shows how TB transformed the lives as well as causing the deaths of its victims and how, although it sometimes faded and became dormant, it invariably returned with the fear of infection ever present among friends, family and anyone knowingly coming close to a `consumptive. Even when not contagious it was a stigma which caused distress and rejection. It also tells of the life of a `consumptive between his months of `incarceration.