During the 19th century, the disease was rampant in Europe and North America and took the lives of large numbers of people. It was the leading cause of death in the United States in 1911 and killed 500,000 people a year in India right up into the 1960s.
十九世紀時，結核病在歐洲和美洲大流行，而且是造成人口大量死亡的主因；一九一一年，結核病是美國人十大死因的首位；到了一九六○年代，肺結核並寫下在印度一年殺死五十萬居民的不良紀錄。