The Middle Z

I’ve gernally found myself drawn to books about disease. Not out of morbid curiosity but because they offer a window into both human suffering and resilience. After reading Fever 1793, The Great Influenza, and Salt Breath, a few years ago, Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green seems like anouther interesting read on a disease I dont reallly know much about. It was a quick book that i finished over 2 days, but it has stayed with me.

Tuberculosis is a disease that most people today barely think about. We often associate it with dusty novels, sanatoriums in the mountains, or distant history. What this book makes clear is that TB has never really gone away. It is likely the deadliest disease in human history and while it no longer dominates headlines in much of the world, it continues to spread in many of the forgotten parts of the globe.

What stood out to me most was the quiet warning of the thesis. It is a calm but firm reminder that diseases we think of as “solved” are not actually gone. They wait for cracks in our systems and lapses in our memory. Green gives just enough history and medical context to show how TB has shaped the world and how it could still shape our future if we are not careful.

The book also feels timely in the context of today’s growing skepticism around vaccines and the widespread disallusionment of the scientific process. These conspericy theories might seem harmless or even defiant in the moment, but they carry real risk. TB, in particular, thrives when treatments are interrupted. That is how drug-resistant strains develop, and that is how even a “defeated” disease can come roaring back.

I appreciated the clarity and restraint of Green’s writing. He avoids dramatics and lets the facts do the work. What emerges is not panic, but perspective. Reading this reminded me how quickly we can lose hard-won progress when we forget what it took to get here. Public health is not just a medical achievement. It is a social one, built on trust, cooperation, and vigilance.