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Jaundice
A bacterial infection, which is harmless and without symptoms in most cases, but sometimes resides in the lungs and causes a severe cough that may be fatal. Bố and his grandmother both develop (but survive) this kind of severe tuberculosis while living in Bàn Cờ.
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Tuberculosis Term Timeline in The Best We Could Do
The timeline below shows where the term Tuberculosis appears in The Best We Could Do. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: The Chessboard
...buttons undone, [his] hair long and [his] pants tight.” Bố and his grandmother both get tuberculosis, which nearly causes him to fail out off school, but he still graduates, and joins...
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Chapter 8: The Shore
...gets checkups in Kuala Lumpur, but Bố’s shows a lung problem related to his old tuberculosis, so he has to wait in Malaysia while the rest of the family travels to...
(full context)
