Phantom Plague

For centuries, Tuberculosis has plagued populations across the world. From its first mention in ancient Indian texts to its romanticized existence during the Victorian era to its inevitable link with the AIDS and HIV crisis of the late 20th century, TB has endured. And today, it’s reemerged in a more aggressive, drug resistant strain that even decades of research and treatment are unable to overcome.

In The Phantom Plague, health reporter Vidya Krishnan traces Tuberculosis throughout history–showing the disease’s social and scientific impacts on society– and then brings us into the future with original reporting on the threat of multi-drug resistant TB and its inherent connections with the novel coronavirus. What emerges is a story of people–patients, scientists, doctors, pharma executives, activists and more–all connected by one, persistent, deadly disease.