Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection

Tuberculosis has affected humanity for thousands of years. Once viewed as a disease of poets, it is now understood as a disease linked to poverty and the inequities that have enabled its spread. In 2019, John Green met Henry Reider, a young tuberculosis patient at Lakka Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. Green has since become an advocate for increased access to treatment and awareness of the healthcare inequities surrounding this curable, preventable disease that remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, killing over a million people annually. Everything Is Tuberculosis combines Henry's story with the scientific and social histories of tuberculosis and its impact on human civilization. The book examines how past choices have shaped the disease's trajectory and how future decisions will determine its course.