Lars Haarr will speak about “When Tuberculosis Ravaged”. He is a retired physician and professor at the University of Bergen and now lives in Vigrestad.
Tuberculosis is the infectious disease that today claims the most lives worldwide. In Norway, the disease peaked around 1900, with 6,000–7,000 deaths annually – about 20% of all deaths. Although the cause, the tuberculosis bacillus, was discovered in 1882, effective medical treatment did not become available until after the Second World War. This was also when the BCG vaccine was introduced in Norway. Before that, patients were treated in sanatoria across the country.
This widespread disease was considered so serious and important that Norway introduced a Tuberculosis Act in 1900.