Tuberculosis Consultant Services

The beginning of the sanatorium movement can be pretty closely defined by time, place and person. The first sanatorium for tuberculosis patients offering bed rest as the basis of treatment with special diets was opened 1863 in Görbersdorf, Germany, by Hermann Brehmer.

The sanatorium movement spread rapidly, and in Switzerland, Davos, which at 1560 meters above sea level is the highest town in the alps, became a most famous place for tuberculosis patients from all over Europe. To "sell" it the argument was that altitude was benefical in the treatment of tuberculosis. The wife of writer Thomas Mann (Nobel Laureate in Literature, 1929) was hospitalized in Davos for the treatment of tuberculosis and the area inspired Mann to the novel "Der Zauberberg" ("Magic mountain"), set in the period immediately preceding the first World War.