Tuberculosis (TB) is not something you hear of every day. When was the first time you heard of it? For me, it was when I first watched Baz Luhrmann's film Moulin Rouge! a few years ago, although it was called consumption in the film. At the time, I didn't understand why Satine was coughing up blood and why that was such a worry until I read the plot summary afterwards and did some reading on TB. However Moulin Rouge! was set in 1900 - so much has changed, and today in the Western world we rarely ever have to worry about contracting TB it has just about disappeared.But many people in other parts of the world are not so lucky.
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| Soba holds her son Sawai Naruwa, who has lost the use of his legs as a result of tuberculosis in Daru in 2011. Photo: Jason South |
But what exactly is it?



Ever had the feeling where you work with something for so long that you get attached and you can't let it go, even though you have a feeling that it's not going to work out? We can call it the escalation of commitment or sunk cost fallacy.


