Discovery of tuberculosis - the life of Robert Koch Artwork

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The TBPod is a podcast for clinicians and policymakers caring for patients with tuberculosis. The podcasts present discussions with expert clinicians, researchers, policymakers and advocates about their work in the field of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and is an important contributor to morbidity among migrants arriving in Australia and New Zealand. There are around 1300 reported cases of TB in Australia each year, and a further 300 in New Zealand. Included in these figures are cases of multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB which pose significant barriers to treatment and management of the disease. The Australian government has committed to the global elimination of TB by 2030, but to do so requires the development of innovative new strategies, based on high-quality research, that has national and international reach. These podcasts aim to engage and update those who are interested in the field of tuberculosis through discussions with leaders in the field of tuberculosis.

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The TBPod

Discovery of tuberculosis - the life of Robert Koch

August 01, 2023 • Actnet

In this extraordinary episode we speak with renowned historian Professor Christoph Gradmann about the life and work of German physician Robert Koch. In this episode we look at how Koch came to discover tuberculosis and what it meant for the field of medicine in the late 19th century.

REFERENCES:
Gradmann, Christoph. "Robert Koch and the pressures of scientific research: tuberculosis and tuberculin." Medical history 45.1 (2001): 1-32.

Gradmann, Christoph. "Robert Koch and the white death: from tuberculosis to tuberculin." Microbes and Infection 8.1 (2006): 294-301.

Gradmann, Christoph. "Robert Koch and the invention of the carrier state: tropical medicine, veterinary infections and epidemiology around 1900." Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41.3 (2010): 232-240.

Gradmann, Christoph. "Money and microbes: Robert Koch, tuberculin and the Foundation of the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin in 1891." History and philosophy of the life sciences (2000): 59-79.

Gradmann, Christoph. "A spirit of scientific rigour: Koch's postulates in twentieth-century medicine." Microbes and infection 16.11 (2014): 885-892.

Gradmann, Christoph. "A harmony of illusions: clinical and experimental testing of Robert Koch’s tuberculin 1890–1900." Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 35.3 (2004): 465-481.

Gradmann, Christoph, Mark Harrison, and Anne Rasmussen. "Typhoid and the Military in the Early 20th Century." Clinical Infectious Diseases 69.Supplement_5 (2019): S385-S387.

Gradmann, Christoph. "The traveling laboratory: Robert Koch investigates cholera 1883/84." Medizinhistorisches Journal38.1 (2003): 35-56.

Gradmann, Christoph. "Laboratory disease: Robert Koch's medical bacteriology." Isis 102 (2011).