Treatment
gold salts
Used since at least the 1830s in Europe, gold salts were administered in an attempt to cure consumption. Part of their initial appeal was their exoticism and the eliteness they conferred due their cost, but after Koch stated that gold salts inhibited TB bacilli growth in 1890 more and more scientists began experimenting with them. The creation of sanocrysin was one outcome.
Created in Denmark in 1925, sanocrysin (sodium-gold-thio-sulphate) was said to neutralize TB and confer immunity. Side-effects to the intramuscular injections were severe, though, including fever, weight loss, vomiting, and – in many cases – death. Yet, use of sanocrysin continued until the Second World War, despite the fact that no scientific tests demonstrated its effectiveness against TB.
