Tuberculosis in the Americas, 1870-1945

This book focuses on the era during which the cause of tuberculosis had been identified, and public health officials were seeking to prevent it, but scientists had not yet found a cure. By examining tuberculosis comparatively in two Atlantic port cities, Buenos Aires and Philadelphia, it explores the medical, political and economic settings in which patients, physicians and urban officials lived and worked. Reber discusses the causes of tuberculosis, treatments and public health efforts to stop contagion, and how factors such as gender, age, class, nationality, beliefs and previous experiences shaped patient responses, and often defined the type of treatment.

" Tuberculosis in the Americas contributes to tuberculosis and public health history through its painstaking documentation and broad-ranging study of institutions, treatments, medical discourse, and social conditions in these two cities of North and South America." - Charmaine Robson , University of New South Wales" The book would work well in a number of undergraduate health courses in a variety of disciplines. Its transnational historical overview can serve as a textbook for novices, while still including interpretative claims that can spur classroom discussion. In particular, students could tackle the central claim of the book..."- Kelly Urban, University of South Alabama, John Hopkins University Press

Vera Blinn Reber earned a PhD from the University of Wisconsin with specialization on Latin American and Comparative History. She taught World and Latin American History at Shippensburg University for 37 years. Her primary research interests are Argentine and Paraguayan nineteenth century economic history and urban medical history.