The first tuberculosis diagnostic laboratory where specimens of sputum could be examined was authorized on this date in 1893 by the New York City Department of Health. Under the direction of Hermann Michael Biggs, the lab reported cases of tuberculosis and supervised isolation, disinfection and public education. A year later, the first TB research laboratory was established in Saranac Lake, N.Y., under the direction of Edward Livingston Trudeau. Tuberculosis is still with us. In 1998, U.S. tuberculosis cases as published in "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report," numbered 18,361 an 8 percent decline from the 19,851, reported in 1997, and a 31 percent decrease since 1993.

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