Oregon Experience: White Plague
Lewinsohns in the Lab
"All the 'easy' vaccines have been discovered," says Dr. Deborah Lewinsohn. But a TB vaccine is NOT one of them. Tuberculosis, though one of the oldest diseases known to humans, has always been one of the hardest to detect and treat. Deborah and her husband, Dr. David Lewinsohn, have devoted themselves to TB research at OHSU and the Oregon Veterans' Hospital.
Key to the Lewinsohns' work is that fact that most people infected with TB bacteria never develop the active disease. Not much is known about how their immune systems keep the disease at bay, but the Lewinsohns aim to find out. Learning that, perhaps, might show the way to the "holy grail" -- an effective vaccine to protect the world.
Lewinsohns in the Lab
- About the Program
Skin tests at school. Chest x-rays at work. Remember T.B.?
- TB Among Native Americans
Read more about the impact of TB on Native people.
- Enforcing The Cure
Oregon health workers fight to prevent the spread of TB in our communities.
- Lewinsohns in the Lab
Two Oregon researchers have dedicated themselves to finding an effective vaccine for TB.
- TB Posters
See some of the hundreds of posters used to fight the disease.
© 2013 Oregon Public Broadcasting.