Changing Disease Identity

Available for over a year

A major narrative history series exploring over 2,000 years of western medicine, written and presented by medical historian Andrew Cunningham. We assume all diseases are eternal. But a side-effect of progress in medical thinking is that diseases often had their identities changed over time. New measuring tools meant that it was impossible to say whether a disease, before and after scientific medicine developed, was in fact the same disease. Andrew examines the many changing identities of consumption - soon to become known as tuberculosis - a widespread disease throughout 19th century Europe, affecting people of all ages and from all walks of life. The readers are Tamsin Greig, Scott Handy and Peter Capaldi.