// In the late '80s I found that I had, unwittingly, been heavily exposed to TB through my Bradford school.//
this happened to me: I caught TB off a vagabond, but I dont go around saying shoot all vagabonds....
I started feeling ill almost immediately - and was diagnosed with glandular fever - much more likely along with an odd blood picture which can be seen in GF + plus mild depression which is seen in both TB and GF
and then I got forcibly investigated after an outbreak of TB 20 y later - where surprisingly enough the haemophiliacs all got TB and none of the leukaemics. And people just shrugged their shoulders and said 'oh'
and they said - oh well you arent the index case so we wont lock you away ( hey fanx) but you deffo have had TB along with lung scarring. Do you remember when?
In 1953 when I had my vacco ( TB) 50% country school children reacted to bovine TB. So we all got BCG - which heavily modifies the course in anglo-saxons. Not so much Indians and not at all Native Indians.
so around 1970, the conversion rate was down to 2% so they stopped BCG and used Mantoux conversion for detecting cases. If you reacted then you had had contact with proper TB
The idea of politicising TB hadnt occurred to me - consumption and phthisis was such a trope of victorian novels ( Dombey and Son, Middlemarch, Christmas Carol) that I have never considered it brought in by those dirty forriners
oh and by the way - whoever above has hopelessly confused small pox and monkey pox er has hopelessly confused two different diseases.