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

by John Green

I often think of these interdependent systems in the context of my own healthcare. Not long ago, I was walking in the backyard, staring up at the night sky, when I happened to step on a nail that went right through my shoe and an inch into my foot. The next morning, I drove on a good road to a clinic a few minutes from my house, where I received a booster shot to eliminate the already small chance that my mishap with the nail might result in tetanus. But in order for this minor medical intervention to occur, so many systems had to work in my favor: I needed healthcare access, of course—in my case, a health insurance program that pays for basic preventative care like vaccines. I needed to live in a community with twenty-four-hour electricity, so that the tetanus shot could remain cold and not lose its efficacy. I needed a system that could efficiently and reliably transport not just the shot itself, but also the gloves worn by the nurse who did my injection. I needed to live in a community with an education system strong enough to train nurses and doctors. Ultimately, what I needed was not just a tetanus shot but an entire set of robust systems to work perfectly in concert with each other—a phenomenon that ought not be a luxury in our world of abundance, and yet still somehow is.