Takiko catches the disease.
Tuberculosis or TB (short for tubercles bacillus) is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans.[1] Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have the disease cough, sneeze, or spit.[2] Most infections in humans result in an asymptomatic, latent infection, and about one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of its victims.
The first vaccine against tuberculosis, the BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) one, was released in 1921, two years before Genbu Kaiden took place. However, it was not widely used until after World War II (1939-1945).
Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden[]
Takiko's mother, Yoshie Okuda, dies of Tuberculosis before she enters the book. Takiko, who had divided her time between school and taking care of her mother before entering the Universe of the Four Gods, is initially shown to be immune to the disease, but in the last chapters she starts to cough blood and this proves that she has caught it as well. In these days, tuberculosis was considered as untreatable and almost always fatal, since as said above actual medical treatments were still in development.