CDC History of Tuberculosis Control - Medical and Public Health ...

Conferences specifically addressing TB
followed in Paris in 1888, 1891, 1892, and
1898. The 1899 conference took place in Berlin
and, for the first time, official representatives
from both governments and nongovernmental
agencies were present. The independent
developments of sanatoria (1854), the
discovery of the bacillus (1882), the opening of
TB dispensaries (1887), the development of the
voluntary movement (1890), and the
organization of periodic conferences called for
a centralized agency for coordination and
communication. The Central Bureau for
Prevention of Tuberculosis was formalized in
Berlin in 1902, and the double-barred cross
was adopted then as its symbol. Periodic
international conferences systematically
addressing clinical, research, and sociological
aspects of TB were held until the outbreak of
the First World War in 1914.
Establishment of the Union, 1920-1939
In 1920, a conference on TB was convened in
Paris in which 31 countries participated,
including Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,
China, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Japan,
Panama, Paraguay, Iran, and Thailand, in
addition to those of Europe and North
America. In an impressive procession,
delegates one by one pledged “to agree on the
means to fight TB, to make a consensus on the
strategy, to jointly apply the most effective
weapons to combat this common enemy,”
thus establishing the International Union
Against Tuberculosis (IUAT) in its present
form. It was conceived as a federation of
national associations (130 by 1999). Ten
international conferences followed until 1939.
In order to supplement the routine reports of
the conferences, a regular publication was
commenced in 1923. In this prewar period, the
Bulletin included administrative reports and
statistics (subsequently compiled by WHO) as
well as information on the strategy and
policies for the fight against TB and results of
numerous surveys on specific aspects of the
disease and the campaign. The Bulletin
TB Control at the Millennium
34
continued publication until mid-1940, the final
editions containing the main reports to have
been given at the 11 th conference planned for
Berlin in September 1939, the very month
when the Second World War commenced.
Relaunching of the Union, 1946-1961
At the first reunion of the Executive
Committee after the war in 1946, the IUAT
recommended to the planners of the future
World Health Organization “establishment of
a strong Division of Tuberculosis.” Official
relations with the WHO were then established
which continue to the present time.
The first postwar conference in 1950 in
Copenhagen, with participation of 43 nations,
was followed by a series of conferences, with
the 29 th world conference in Bangkok in 1998,
when 105 countries participated. Conferences
outside North America and Europe were held
in Brazil in 1952, India in 1957, and Turkey in
1959. During this period a series of
international symposia were also organized,
generally in Paris, addressing a variety of
topical issues such as TB in Africa, strain
variation in BCG, radiography for TB, new
drugs, and the role of voluntary agencies,
among others.
In order to strengthen the administration of
the growing agency, a post of full-time
Executive Director was established in 1952. A
system of quotas was devised for membership
contributions. Over many years, the
American Association has continually
maintained a high quota share. Fees were also
levied from individual members. In 1951,
scientific committees were commenced and
met annually for intensive discussion of the
emerging strategy for the fight against TB. In
1953, regions were established in order to
remain close to where the needs are. In 1958,
the first international collaborative clinical
trial for treatment of any disease was
undertaken, with a total of 17,391 patients
from 17 countries evaluated for drug
resistance. This was followed by a