Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

March 14, 2026

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Tuberculosis is a disease rarely heard about in North America, Australia and Europe so we think it has been eradicated (although it does still exist here among the lower economic classes). There has been a vaccine available for decades, as well as antibiotics, and most of us were treated with the vaccine as children. 20th century sufferers who were successfully treated include former Beatle Ringo Starr and the late Senator Bob Dole. But TB is still widespread in Africa and Asia, and one of the major killers, even though there have been successful drug therapies against the disease for decades. Green follows the case of Henry, a 17 year old boy from Sierra Leone with drug resistant TB. The author explores the reason why the drugs don't get to those who need them most, which range from Big Pharma pricing to World Bank regulations to politics to cultural superstition and belief. Informative and moving. Yes, this is the same John Green who wrote The Fault in Our Stars (which I highly recommend).