On 27 May, 2010 a centennial anniversary since the death of the famous German bacteriologist Robert Koch was celebrated. He contributed to the discovery of tuberculosis bacilli and in 1905 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Mankind have been trying to control tuberculosis through ages, however, the attempts were not effective until the reason of the disease was unknown. Tuberculosis control covers a chain of areas from detection, diagnosis, treatment, prophylaxis, social conditions, etc., influencing the spread of the disease. The discovery made by Koch constituted the scientific background, reconsidered the essential elements in tuberculosis control and inspired the search of more effective measures to control the disease. As a result, treatment of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis proved to be the most effective tuberculosis control measure.
The article briefly scans how the discovery by R. Koch changed tuberculosis control in the world, presents the actual trends of tuberculosis control and lists the most important achievements of control. The article reviews how health systems in the world and in Lithuania’s have profited from Robert Koch’s epoch-making discovery and how tuberculosis control has paved its way in Lithuania.
