ADAMOWICZ, Dominik, ŁOPUSZYŃSKA, Inga, ZEMBALA, Julita, STAŃCZYK, Justyna, MELIKSETIAN, Astrik, WOSIŃSKA, Alicja, PAZIK, Dorota, KOSECKA, Katarzyna, CIEŚLIK, Aleksandra and JARGIEŁO, Anna. Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis before two great discoveries of the 20th century: the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine and streptomycin. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2023;22(1):97-117.eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2023.22.01.009 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/44830 https://zenodo.org/record/8170581 The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343. Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences). Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159. Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu). © The Authors 2023; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 29.06.2023. Revised: 30.06.2023. Accepted: 20.07.2023. Published: 25.07.2023. Prevention and treatment of tuberculosis before two great discoveries of the 20thcentury: the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine and streptomycin Dominik Adamowicz University Clinical Centre of the Medical University of Warsaw, Banacha 1a, 02-097 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0386-9392 Inga Łopuszyńska The National Institute of Medicine of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Wołoska 137, 02-507 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0002-9917 Julita Zembala University Clinical Center, Medical University of Warsaw, Lindleya 4, 02-005 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5709-5691 Justyna Stańczyk Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Institute, name of prof. Eleonora Reicher in Warsaw, Spartańska 1, 02-637 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6004-4406 Astrik Meliksetian The National Institute of Medicine of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Wołoska 137, 02-507 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7014-4638 Alicja Wosińska Marshal Jozef Pilsudski Memorial Hospital in Płońsk, Henryka Sienkiewicza 7, 09-100 Płońsk https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8712-6148 Dorota Pazik Centrum Medyczne Kształcenia Podyplomowego Orłowski Hospital, ul. Czerniakowska 231, 00-416 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6826-0083 Katarzyna Kosecka The National Institute of Medicine of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Wołoska 137, 02-507 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0009-0001-8434-7030 Aleksandra Cieślik Praski Hospital in Warsaw, Aleja Solidarności 67, 03-401 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0272-8045 Anna Jargieło National Research Institute, ul. Szaserów 128, 04-141 Warszawa https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9300-4655 ABSTRACT Introduction and Purpose.Fundamental milestonein fight against tuberculosis is the invention of the effective vaccine, but before Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe the bacteria, which opened the door to the first vaccinations in the 19th century. Medicine had battled against infectious diseases in different ways. Some methods can be perceived as a kind of primitive vaccines, which couldn’t, however, considerably affect a decrease in the epidemic range, due to their uncommon use and limited effectiveness. The aim of this paper is to analyze the history of tuberculosis and the role of Poland in the fight against it. Materials and methods.PubMed database was used for review of the literature. The following phrases were searched in English: “tuberculosis”, “vaccination”, “BCG vaccine”, “sanatorium”. Description of the state of knowledge.Poland played an important role in the fight against tuberculosis. It was in the laboratory of Polish pharmacist, where Koch discovered its etiological factor. In the territory of Poland there are prototypes of modern sanatoria for tuberculosis patients. Article also presents old and modern methods of tuberculosis treatment, as the use of specific climatic conditions, which resulted in developing health-resort treatment. A breakthrough in the methods used was the discovery of streptomycin in the middle of the 20thcentury, which led to the development of pharmacological treatment, nowadays involving the administration of proper combinations of drugs. Summary.The increasingly strong anti-vaccine movement is slowly destroying what people have been fighting for the centuries. It is worth recalling how we reached milestones in this fight and why immunization is so important for all societies. Key words tuberculosis, vaccination, sanatorium, mycoplasma