Friday 23 March 2012

World Tuberculosis Day 24th March 2012




World TB Day, falling on March 24th each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in developing countries. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch’s announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch’s discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB. (text from stopTB.org)

For those researching tuberculosis in the past, there are plenty of statistics about TB in British India in our Medical History of British India collection. Many soldiers and inmates of jails and asylums died from it and much epidemiological data can be downloaded from the website from the htm files.

Meanwhile, in our stacks here in the Library, reports from the Public Health Commissioner (shelfmark IP/QA.7) explore the prevalence of TB in India under British rule. In 1933 it was estimated that there were over two million cases of TB in India, being particularly serious in Bengal, Madras and the Punjab.

Now in 2012, people of different ages and living in different countries could have these hopes for stopping TB in their lifetimes:

•Zero deaths from TB
•Faster treatment
•A quick, cheap, low-tech test
•An effective vaccine
•A world free of TB.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

New to OPU this week is Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 21.

This powerful collection of pictures represents the work of 79 photographers from 24 countries. The pictures were selected from 41,000 entries and are chosen by an international panel of judges for their artistic merit.

OPU receives this hardback publication every year, as it is published by the Natural History Museum. Every year there are many stunning images, reminding the reader of the beauty, variety and fragility of the life on our planet.

It is shelved at: OP3.212.11.

The online gallery allows viewing of the winners and also the chance to purchase prints.