The weariness, the fever, and the fret

the long version

"Racked by incessant coughing, barely able to catch their breath, tuberculosis sufferers seemed to literally waste away. By 1900 the "White Plague" was the number one cause of death for Canadians between fifteen and forty-five years of age. In The Weariness, the Fever, and the Fret Katherine McCuaig takes an in-depth look at the campaign against TB, from its beginnings as part of the turn-of-the-twentieth-century urban social reform movement to the 1950s and the discovery of antibiotics that could cure it. Fighting the disease meant not only eliminating the germ but attacking the underlying social problems that eased its spread - alcoholism, poverty, and poor working conditions. The battle against TB influenced the way in which health services were established while also encouraging demands for medicare. Book jacket."--Jacket.