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Tuberculosis has had many names throughout human history: Phthisis, Robber of youth, the white plague, consumption.

It wasn’t until 1865 that Jean Antonine Villemin proved it was an infectious disease and 1882 that Robert Koch identified the causative agent: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (he called it Tubercle bacillus).

Via the first ever Pathology Report from Melbourne Hospital (now Royal Melbourne Hospital), we explore this infectious disease that continues to have a devastating impact to this day.