The End of Tuberculosis? A Belgian Sanatorium and Questionable Narratives of the Triumph Over Disease (1947–1986)

The introduction of antibiotics shortly after the Second World War constituted a turning point in the history of tuberculosis, since the disease came to be perceived as a treatable one which was thereby thought to no longer pose a threat to public health. This narrative, however, downplayed the role of the sanatorium in the treatment of tuberculosis, as well as the long-term consequences of the disease for those people who had once been affected. The article explores the emergence, the causes, but also the implications of these narratives of a sudden triumph over tuberculosis by studying the Elisabeth sanatorium of Sijsele in Belgium. The persistence and even resurgence of tuberculosis in the post-war period is reflected in archival information and interviews with former staff members and patients which indicate how the sanatorium and its communal living structures and practices lingered on. Moreover, such triumphalist narratives enabled a societal silence, which made coping with the aftermath of tuberculosis all the more challenging for former patients.