Book Club 2nd Edition

We met at Liana’s on July 29 to discuss “Everything is Tuberculosis.” The book weaves the story of Henry Reider, a TB patient in Sierra Leone – whom the author John Green met and whose battle with TB he followed – with the history of TB over the millenia. It traces the early romanticization of the illness, and the ugly reality of the isolating and intractable nature of the disease, which followed Robert Koch’s discovery of the TB bacteria. It also looks at the current challenges of drug resistance, alongside the treatment disparities and inequities across the globe, that still makes TB the number one infectious disease killer in the world. While the book was well received by all members of the club, it also generated a lot of discussion about the moral dilemmas facing societies – and priorities of drug companies – as we allocate resources to eradicate TB and alleviate the suffering and mortality that it causes.