The Canadian Lung Association/Canadian Thoracic Society and Tuberculosis Prevention and Control

The jubilee of the Canadian Thoracic Society (CTS) provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the organization’s roots and the meaning of those roots to contemporary tuberculosis prevention and control, as well as global respiratory health. It is worth our while to recall that the Canadian Lung Association (CLA) and its medical arm, the CTS, have a direct lineage to parent organizations in the fight against tuberculosis in Canada. The beginnings of an organized effort to deal with [tuberculosis in Canada] were made in Ontario in 1896, when Sir William Gage founded the National Sanitarium Association for the purpose of building sanatoria for the treatment of tuberculosis. Its first sanatorium, the Muskoka Cottage Hospital, which opened the following year, was a step in the right direction for sufferers from the disease, who previously had to seek sanatorium treatment outside the country. Two other organizations were formed in the next few years – The Toronto Association for the Prevention of Consumption and Other Forms of Tuberculosis in 1898, and the Ontario Association for the Prevention of Consumption and Other Forms of Tuberculosis in 1900 – but it soon became apparent to concerned individuals that in order to achieve success the attack would have to be made on a national level. Dr Peter Bryce, Dr EJ Barrick, and the Reverend ES Eby, along with others who were interested, then took steps to organize the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Consumption and Other Forms of Tuberculosis (1). From the beginning, this was a hybrid organization of committed laypersons and medical professionals who advocated tirelessly on behalf of tuberculosis patients for a sustainable infrastructure, government responsibility, education and research. It intuitively grasped the significance of Sir William Osler’s prophetic words – “Tuberculosis is a social disease with a medical aspect” – and laboured to generate a community-based response to the disease. In 1923, the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Consumption and Other Forms of Tuberculosis was renamed the Canadian Tuberculosis Association. In 1946, at the annual meeting of the Canadian Tuberculosis Association, a program committee was struck to develop a medical section in which items of pure medical interest could be discussed. In due course, the Canadian Tuberculosis Association became the CLA and its medical section became the CTS. The 1940s and early 1950s also saw the discovery of the revolutionary new drugs that would change the course of history. Accordingly, the mid-20th century became a turning point in the life of the CLA/CTS, as well as in tuberculosis prevention and control. In the present essay, a thesis is advanced, respecting the broader implications of tuberculosis control; sequential events central to that thesis are identified as having occurred in either the first or the second half of the 20th century.