There is a reason why reports of a rare strain of tuberculosis attracted worldwide attention: a history perhaps as deadly as the plague.

More than 4,000 years ago, tuberculosis killed an Egyptian whose mummified remains were dug up; the case was first described in 1910. Hippocrates called it "consumption" in 460 BC.

Pathologist Thomas Dormandy of London, author of "The White Death: The History of Tuberculosis," said TB may have killed more than the plague. Outbreaks of the Black Death were shorter, less frequent. The lack of credible records makes it impossible to say.

Tuberculosis remains a global health threat. "It is a rough disease to deal with even with antibiotics because drug resistant strains develop," said Dormandy. It has claimed the lives of millions, including many of the high and mighty, though the science used to confirm TB deaths in centuries past remains suspect.

And in Africa "it is the most common terminal event for AIDS victims," said Dormandy.

Though around for centuries, it spread mostly widely during the Industrial Revolution, though no one is certain why. "It is partly, I think, urban life and malnourishment. Most epidemics, especially TB are mysterious," Dormandy said.

He said became interested in the disease as a medical student when he visited sanatoria in Switzerland, and over the years realised it had been one of the great influences of European literature, art and thought during the 19th Century.

Even Nazi doctors sought to identify its origin and find a cure, using Jewish concentration camp victims.