Tuberculosis remained a dangerous desease even after the discovery of casusative bacteria in 1882. The mortality rates reached 25 percent in the first five years after being infected. In 1943, a group of American scientists discovered streptomycin as a highly effective antibiotic that neutralizes the desease. Starting from 1946, the mortality rate from tuberculosis plummeted by 90% owing to the wide use of streptomycin, which paved the way to elimination of tuberculosis endemic in developed countries over the next decade. The group of researchers was led by a Ukrainian emigre Zelman Vaksman (1888-1973) who was born in Nova Pryluka village, Vinnytsia region. In 1952, Zelman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physyology or Medicine.

Nataliya Zakashanska