10 Facts about Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis or TB is an infectious disease that is caused by mycobacteria.  It mostly affects lungs but in some of the cases spine, kidneys as well as brain is also infected by the disease. Tuberculosis kills almost two million people yearly by spreading through the medium of tiny droplets in air. Here are some of the important facts about Tuberculosis:

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1. Tuberculosis is a contagious disease – it spreads through air. If not treated properly an individual with TB can infect 10 to 15 people every year. When an uninfected person gets multiple exposures to TB virus spread in the air he is more likely to get infected. The person living in with untreated patient is more prone to getting TB infection.
2. Tuberculosis kills nearly two million people every year. Malnourished people and young adults in their growing up years are more prone to TB.
3. Tuberculosis is a worldwide pandemic. Most of the deaths due to TB occur in the developing countries.
4. Two main forms of TB include active TB (.i.e. TB disease) and TB infection. In later case there are no symptoms and is not contagious where as a person with TB disease show symptoms and can spread it to others  as well.
5. Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Philippines and Africa (29% of all TB cases) are the countries with the highest number of TB infected cases.
6. Simple medication can prevent TB infection from becoming serious TB disease.
7. One can get rid of TB disease by taking anti-TB drugs as per prescription of medical professional. Combination therapies are seen to have positive results in treating tuberculosis. For instance, with operational feasibility of Directly Observed Therapy (DOTS) in Indian, eight out of ten patients are successfully cured in comparison to the previous treatment programs
8. It is a leading killer for HIV-infected people as they have weak immune systems. For instance most of the TB deaths in Africa are HIV-associated.
9. Global TB incidence is still growing at 1% every year because of the rapid increase in Africa; intense control efforts are helping incidence fall or stabilize in other regions.
10. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) results from poor management of tuberculosis patients. It is present in all 109 countries that are recently surveyed by WHO. DOTS can successfully prevent the disease.

 

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