World Tuberculosis Day 2022: Mandela, Amitabh Bachchan and other famous people who battled the disease

Nelson Mandela

(Image credit: www.un.org)

Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s former president and anti-apartheid icon, contracted tuberculosis in jail in 1988. “He’s very thin” his lawyer had been quoted as saying by LA Times. “He’s on his feet, but very suddenly he looks very old.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

(Image credit: AFP)

American diplomat and activist Eleanor Roosevelt, who was married to former United States President Franklin D Roosevelt, reportedly died of tuberculosis, anaemia and heart failure in 1962.

Ringo Starr

(Image credit: AFP)

The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr had contracted tuberculosis in his childhood. He spent nearly a year in a hospital, according to a report in Express.co.uk.

Starr's developed a fear of hospitals, which emerged again when the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020.

"I don’t dwell on it or live with that fear, but I suppose I’m like everyone else – we all think if we’re going to get [the virus], we’re going to get the death one," he was quoted as saying by the website. "I know people, and family members who had it, and it’s a very small portion where it’s the end, but in my head, that’s where it goes.”

Amitabh Bachchan

(Image credit: Reuters)

Indian megastar Amitabh Bachchan had said at an NDTV event in 2019 that he survived tuberculosis as well as  hepatitis B.

"Due to a bad blood infusion, 75 per cent of my liver was damaged," the iconic actor had said.  "I’m still surviving on 25 percent."

In 2017, the actor had been appointed the brand ambassador of the Centre's anti-tuberculosis campaign.