Tuberculosis (TB) is a diffusive infectious disease whose typical behavior differentiates it from other infectious diseases following a classic epidemic pattern. Based on the biological characteristics and the legal concepts, it becomes highly problematic to assert that tuberculosis can cause events associated with the crime of epidemic. This article focuses on medico-legal implications of tuberculosis.
In medicine, an epidemic is an event that evolves suddenly and affects more people in a particular area than would normally be expected. In criminal law, on the other hand, for an epidemic to be a crime there must be proof of an unexpected and mass onset of an infectious human disease, capable of spreading quickly within a particular time, space and potentially affecting a significant, indeterminable number of people. In such circumstances, an epidemic is not just any infectious…
