The diagnosis of one of these diseases used to be a death sentence. Learn how modern medicine is working to defeat the microscopic invaders that used to kill millions. 10 Diseases That Used to be Death Sentences: http://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/infectious/10-diseases-were-death-sentences.htm Subscribe http://bit.ly/1AWgeM7 Twitter https://twitter.com/HowStuffWorks Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HowStuffWorks Google+ https://plus.google.com/+howstuffworks Website http://www.howstuffworks.com Watch More https://www.youtube.com/HowStuffWorks Music: "Washing Machine" by Jahzzar https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jahzzar/Bunk_Excerpt/04_-_Jahzzar_-_Washing_Machine Images: Tuberculosis - Sub-pleural primary focus - https://www.flickr.com/photos/pulmonary_pathology/6597605231 Mycobacterium tuberculosis Bacteria, the Cause of TB - https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/5149398656 Lung - Miliary tuberculosis - https://www.flickr.com/photos/pulmonary_pathology/6564688089 TB Detection & Treatment in Lima, Peru - https://www.flickr.com/photos/pahowho/12991120373 Yersinia pestis Bacteria - https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/7316086176 Get me outa here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dickdotcom/492600815 nkondi medicine - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/3353778490 cervical carcinoma with adnexa - https://www.flickr.com/photos/euthman/218889486 Video: Tombstone - Doc Holiday - Card Scene - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwD5CZ_j3-Y Cujo (1983) Cena HD 720p - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZR4CJ_iwH4 Nothing to Sneeze At - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnafrAtfMzE * Many of us owe our lives to modern medicine. Because of it, diseases that used to spell certain death are now preventable, treatable, or even curable. * [Tuberculosis:] Ever seen a period movie where someone develops a serious case of red eyeliner and coughs fake blood into a hanky? That’s a re-enactment of tuberculosis, the lung disease that caused 1 out of 7 American deaths in 1892. It’s transmitted when an infected person coughs or sneezes, effervescing bodily fluids containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria into the air. If those droplets get into your mucus membranes, you can get infected. Antibiotics and sanitation have quashed TB in modernized countries. Treatment and containment efforts are making a dent in developing nations, too; the worldwide death rate from TB dropped 45% between 1990 and 2012. * [Rabies:] If you're ever bitten by a mammal that may not be vaccinated against rabies, hustle to a hospital with haste. You don’t want to take a chance: Rabies is very treatable as long as it's caught before the virus attacks the central nervous system, causing delirium and death. Early medical care, including vaccination and antibodies your body can use until the vaccine kicks in, keeps the U.S. death toll at 2-3 people per year. * Bubonic Plague: The bubonic plague killed more than 75 million people in 1300s. But the Black Death isn’t history: Over 10,000 people contracted it in the Congo alone from 2000 to 2009. In the U.S., 56 people caught the plague during that same period (7 died). Good sanitation curtails its spread by infected fleas and rats. And antibiotics cure it fast, but again, early treatment is key. If the Yersinia pestis bacteria that cause it reach the lungs, it can become the often-fatal pneumonic plague. * Cervical Cancer: As recently as the 1940s, the leading cause of death among U.S. women was cervical cancer. Which is basically always triggered by cellular changes caused by human papillomavirus infection. But there was a 60% decline in both cervical cancer incidence and death rates in the U.S. between 1955 and 1992! It’s all thanks to two tests. The Papanicolaou (or Pap) test looks for those cellular changes. The HPV DNA test checks whether you have HPV, and if so, whether it’s one of the virulent strains. And now, the HPV vaccine can altogether prevent infection by some strains of the virus. * Sadly, many life-saving treatments aren't always available in developing nations. Public health organizations are fighting the good fight, but we’re a long way from stamping out some diseases, like tuberculosis, AIDS, and malaria. * But hey, if modern medicine were a person, what would you thank it for? Let us know in the comments. And to learn more, like how humanity is battling AIDS and malaria, check out our article “10 Diseases That Used to Be Death Sentences” on HowStuffWorks.com.