[100th anniversary of Robert Koch's discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (author's transl)]

A brief account of Robert Koch's biography is followed by reference to the past 100 years and the change that has occurred in that period to the prospects of tuberculosis, including genital tuberculosis.--Comprehensive tuberculosis control programmes in many industrialised countries, including the GDR, have contributed to significant reduction of tuberculosis incidence. It has been wiped out as a mass epidemic. Today, genital tuberculosis does no longer grow manifest by the classical pattern of massive tumour growths which reach up to the mesogastrium. It is rather manifested in discrete latent forms, often detected along with sterility diagnosis or as an accidental finding. Nevertheless, the general risk of tuberculosis must not be belittled, since it still is a global health problem.