Everything Is Tuberculosis: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Along with Robert Koch, French doctor Louis Pasteur was a vital figure in the development of germ theory. After confirming Koch’s findings, he created a vaccine to protect people from anthrax and cholera, usurping Koch’s position as the most notable contemporary scientist in only a few years. Due to ongoing tension between Germany and France, one that stemmed from each country’s desire to be more celebrated than the other, Koch was pressured to one-up Pasteur’s anthrax vaccine. So, in the late 1880s, he began developing a vaccine for TB.

Using similar methods as Pasteur, Koch created tuberculin and tested it first on animals and then himself, his mistress, and two assistants. Just like Pasteur’s vaccine, they began to feel sick but quickly recovered, so he began testing it on TB patients. After injection, the patients’ infected tissues began to die off, and he advertised tuberculin as both a way to prevent infection and a way to cure infection. His supposed cure was a sensation, so much so that English Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle, who would go on to author the Sherlock Holmes novels, decided to go to Germany to visit Koch.

Green pauses to reflect on how impactful the development of germ theory was, as it revealed that even humans could be killed by microscopic bacteria. He goes on to share his experiences with obsessive compulsive disorder, which makes him worry about microbes; the discovery of germ theory thus affects him even on a personal level. He then returns to the story of Conan Doyle, who became wary of tuberculin’s efficacy. It appeared that, while it did kill infected tissue, it didn’t kill the bacteria itself, meaning it wasn’t curative. Conan Doyle still thought tuberculin could be a helpful medical tool, as it could identify who had been infected with TB. Despite this, Koch’s reputation was ruined, as thousands of people who had been “cured” ended up dying of TB.