Tuberculosis has been known since ancient times. Joint research by Polish and American scientists has led them to the conclusion that this disease is at least 245 million years old. This was the age of the ancient reptile, on the ribs of which the researchers found vesicular growths characteristic of this disease.

And although the methods of treatment and prevention of tuberculosis are well developed, this insidious disease has not yet disappeared, as it happened with the plague or cholera.

Diagnostics
Before developing TB treatment methods, it was necessary to find reliable diagnostic methods. It is obvious to doctors that the numerous descriptions of consumption (obsolete name for tuberculosis) by ancient Greek doctors actually include other diseases such as cancer, syphilis, pneumonia, etc.

A breakthrough in the diagnosis of tuberculosis was made by R. Koch, who in 1882 discovered the causative agent of the disease, a bacterium called Koch's bacillus. For this discovery, R. Koch was awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Fluorography has become one of the reliable diagnostic methods. The lung changes on the X-ray in tuberculosis were described in detail back in 1904 by the outstanding Russian pathologist A.I. Abrikosov. Subsequently, A.I. Abrikosov became an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, as well as the father of the future academician and Nobel Prize winner in physics A.A. Abrikosov.

Treatment methods
Tuberculosis is often referred to as a "social disease." A contemporary and scientific opponent of R. Koch, the German pathologist R. Virchow, believed that the main factors in the development of tuberculosis were a lack of fresh air, sunlight and proper nutrition. Therefore, naturally, tuberculosis was much more common in the slums where the poor lived. Paradoxically, one of the best methods of tuberculosis prevention is to combat poverty and improve the living conditions of the population.

In addition to slums, tuberculosis is most common among prisoners in prisons in tsarist (and modern) Russia.

The most significant factors that increase a person's susceptibility to the development of tuberculosis are:
• AIDS;
• Smoking;
• Diabetes.

Although R. Koch and R. Virchow were rivals in science, both of them are considered the founders of social hygiene as a science.
A breakthrough in the treatment of tuberculosis was achieved after the discovery of Z. Waxman and A. Schatz of streptomycin– an antibiotic with pronounced anti-tuberculosis activity. For the discovery of streptomycin, associated with the effective treatment of tuberculosis, Z. Waxman single-handedly received the Nobel Prize, although A. Schatz was also the co-author of all patents.

Despite the obvious successes in the treatment of tuberculosis, the disease has not been completely defeated so far. Therefore, the search for new treatments and medicines is constantly ongoing. One of these methods is described below.

What does spiders have to do with it?
Biochemists from Stanford and Mexico have shown that the venom of the Mexican scorpion Diplocentrus melici, a poorly studied species of scorpions, can be effective in treating tuberculosis. If the venom of such a spider is left to stand in the air, it turns from white to dark red. The initial amount of poison was only 0.5 ml. Two red and blue alkaloids have been isolated from the reddened poison, which can become the basis for the development of a new generation of antibiotics. The substances turned out to be chemically almost identical. The difference was that instead of one of the carbon atoms (in the red substance), the second alkaloid contained a sulfur atom.

Both substances attracted the attention of doctors. As it turned out, the red component is effective against pathogenic staphylococci, and the blue component is effective against tuberculosis pathogens. Tests on mice have shown not only the effectiveness, but also the safety of the drug. But there is still a very long way to go before clinical trials. Unfortunately, the development of new drugs is still a scientific hypothesis.

To obtain enough material for research, chemists have also come up with a way to synthesize these substances. Due to this, there is hope for the introduction of medicines created in the future into medical practice, since scorpion venom is very expensive: 1 ml costs about 10,000 dollars. The exclusive four-tier offer structure rewards players who make multiple deposits rather than just one large transaction. A patient bettor receives bonus funds on the first four deposits, with each tier adding to the total boost. The betwinner promo code today four-deposit bonus structure encourages spreading your funding across multiple transactions rather than depositing everything at once. The percentages may decrease with each subsequent deposit, but the combined total across all four reaches the advertised maximum.