'Through isolation, we might stop this contagion spreading:' The story of TB in Ireland

A new TG4 documentary explores how a disease became an epidemic

President Sean T. O'Kelly officially opens a 50-bed tuberculosis preventorium at St Raphael's, Montenotte in September 1948.

Well before Covid-19 there was another respiratory disease that held Ireland in its grip. From the late 1800s on, a mixture of cramped living conditions, lack of hygiene facilities and a very clever bacteria led to an epidemic that would cause thousands of deaths and social divide.

TB Scéal Eitinn in Éirinn, airing tonight on TG4 tells the story of the disease in Ireland, tracing its history from the Stone Age right up today, and the key players who were responsible for bringing a vaccine and treatment plan to Ireland that would halt the spread of TB in its tracks.