MDR Tuberculosis in Georgia: Problem in Prevention and Control

With the close proximity infection range TB is known for completes the remainder of the epidemiologic triangle. Overcrowded environments are the coal to the fire of this transmittable disease with outbreaks capable of occurring, infection hundreds. Common symptoms of this active form of tuberculosis include: weight loss, coughing, fatigue, fever, night sweats, chills, and loss of appetite (MayoClinic, 2014). The Mayo Clinic also states that it is believed that 2 billion (one third) of the world population is living with Latent TB (2014). This emphasizes the need for public health and community involvement in order to completely abolish this disease from our planet.

TB is still proven to be a top killer around the world, and with more cases of drug resistant TB being reported daily, the cost of treating and preventing this disease will continue to be on the rise.

The CDC website provides ample educational information regarding tuberculosis. It gives a detail description of what Tuberculosis is, the testing used and how it works. The website also addresses the risk factors of tuberculosis and warns that traveling to countries such as Africa, Asia and Central America puts them in a higher risk of contracting TB. In addition, it provides people with preventive measures to avoid being infected. They advise against close proximity with infected, and to be cautious around people working in health care facilities, prisons, shelter or an over populate area and advise to refrain from consuming unpasteurized milk products. In addition, the Website provides Data and Statistics, which can help support previous

Tuberculosis is a deadly disease that is now affecting our world and the people living in it in a horrible way. Due to many factors such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, and lack of health care, many third world and developing countries have been left very vulnerable to tuberculosis. It is affecting a large part of these countries and is leading them deeper into poverty and sickness. The effort to help these countries against tuberculosis has only been slightly effective against this widespread and destructive disease.

Tuberculosis is a disease of an infectious nature caused by a bacterium known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease spreads through the air. People with the disease can spread it to susceptible people through coughing, sneezing, talking or spitting. It mainly affects the lungs and other parts such as the lymph nodes and kidneys can also be affected. The symptoms for TB are fatigue, coughing, night sweats, weight loss and fever. One third of the population of the world is affected with mycobacterium tuberculosis. The rate of infection is estimated to be one person per second. About 14 million people in the world are infected with active tuberculosis. Drug resistant TB has been recorded to be a serious public health hazard in many countries. Resistant strains have developed making it difficult to treat the disease. TB has caused millions of death mainly in people living with HIV/AIDS ADDIN EN.CITE Ginsberg19981447(Ginsberg, 1998)1447144717Ginsberg, Ann M.The Tuberculosis Epidemic: Scientific Challenges and OpportunitiesPublic Health Reports (1974-)Public Health Reports (1974-)128-13611321998Association of Schools of Public Health00333549http://www.jstor.org/stable/4598234( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_3" o "Ginsberg, 1998 #1447" Ginsberg, 1998). The World Health Organization came up with the DOTS (Directly Observed, Therapy, Short course) strategy. The approach involves diagnosing cases and treating patients with drugs for about 6-8

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious killer worldwide. However, over 95% of TB deaths occur in developing countries (WHO). TB is found to be a curable disease when appropriate medications and treatment are taken. Using the biomedical system is not sufficient to eradicate TB because medical interventions will fail if social determinates aren’t taken into considerations. The biomedical system is a key component in diminishing TB because it allows for diagnosis and control. Social determinants of health play a huge role in shaping one’s health. Three main social determinants that acts as a barrier in curing and preventing TB are income, food insecurity and access to health care.

Tuberculosis, the white plague as used to be called once upon a time is still one of the deadliest bacterial killers affecting almost all parts, all corners of the globe. Though successful anti-tubercular antibiotic regimens and effective vaccine are available for decades and being used in the battle against Koch’s bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of this chronic multi organ granulomatous disease, our strand in the battle continuously seems to be in the losing side. Moreover the increasing prevalence of HIV-AIDS and diabetes mellitus is being proved to be providing predisposition to tuberculosis. As witnessed by the WHO, which has estimated that, in the year 2012, 8.6 million people have developed tuberculosis and 1.3 million have died of the disease including 320000 deaths of HIV-TB co-infected people (Global tuberculosis report 2013. World Health Organization; 2013). Long term antibiotic therapy and that too associated with several side effects and discomforts have diminished patient compliance with the anti-tubercular chemotherapy. This fact in turn has raised the new deadlier MDR-TB and XDR-TB strains. The whole scenario is a matter of panic and questioning the effectiveness of anti-tubercular antibiotics, immunologic efficacy of century old BCG vaccine and all other medical advents.

Tuberculosis (TB), which is brought on by contamination with an individual from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, is a noteworthy reason for incapacity and passing in numerous parts of the world. The frequency (recently reported cases) of tuberculosis in Louisiana is near the normal occurrence in the United States. . In 2013, Louisiana: Ranked eleventh among the 50 states in TB rates (3 for each 100,000 people) and 22.3% of TB cases were foreign-born people (CDC, 2015). As in the U.S., frequency has diminished

Little was known about treatment and prevention of the disease at that time. It was not until 1953 that the United States began collecting data and reports on the 84,304 new cases of TB. This data could be used in research. TB was recognized as a preventable deadly disease, and a common goal to eradicate TB was adopted. Over the next 32 years, the new TB cases dropped 74%. By 1985, there were only 22,201 TB cases. History notes that law makers and public health officials became complacent and thought they had found the solution for eradicating TB. Resources for TB surveillance, prevention, and treatment options were reduced, while homeless numbers increased. This changed history as from 1985 to 1992 TB rates started to increase. Data collected from demographic regions and surveillance records show TB cases rose by 20% in those seven years to equal new 26,673 cases, and the estimated number of TB cases (old and new cases together) during that time was more than 64,000 cases. This was the last recorded peek in TB history. Since 1992, there has been a decrease of 67% in all TB cases. Studies reflect this decrease from 10.5 to 3.4 per 100,000 persons. Much credit for this continued decline is attributed to state and federal aid in addition to the state and local programs aimed at fighting TB and the helping the homeless population. Continued public education, proactive surveillance,

Tuberculosis is a global problem that has affect the lives of many people. Though the rates very decreased immensely many third world countries still have very high rates of people infected with TB. Per the CDC: Rhode Island Health Profile, Rhode Island is 16th among the 50 states in the rates of TB (2015). Rhode Island has the 3rd high rate within the New England. Also, per the Health Department of Rhode Island, the highest rates reported in Rhode Island were in the states capital, Providence. The state of Rhode Island has a case rate of 2.8 per 100,00 people (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], Leveling of Tuberculosis Incidences, 2016). There were 30 cases reported in RI in 2015. According to the World Bank, the incidence rate

The Primary goal of the study was to examine the distribution of DM among TB patients and explore the risk of Drug resistant TB in Diabetics who are also infected with TB in Florida, USA. The Florida department of health TB control program aims to eliminate TB in the state through TB care initiative, A Florida system of Tuberculosis care formed by partnership between the Florida Department pf Health (FDOH) and the public health system statewide to ensure availability of effective TB management program, an aim in line with the global plan to stop TB 2016-2020 adopted by WHO has a post 2015 strategy to eliminate TB as a global epidemic by 2035.

Coming to this point, now I realize why does the United States tremendously concern about the early detection of latent TB infection (LTBI). No wonder the United States is successful in recording a low rate of tuberculosis disease compared to other countries. Though there is still a huge controversy of BCG vaccination playing a role in false-positive PPD test, what I would like to recommend my friends and relatives is that they should do the TB blood test (IGRAs) to make sure that they aren’t infected with TB bacteria. I wish that the other developing countries like Nepal and India also have the effective TB control and prevention program like in the US. So that, not only does the United States continue to decline tuberculosis disease, but

The Ukraine was formerly a part of the Soviet Union and as such many of its policies continue from those that were in place during this period. The TB policy was one of these whereby TB cases were detected by mass screening the population and TB services were vertical structures and highly centralised. Treatment was performed in specialized TB hospitals and entailed long and non-standard treatments. (Vassall et al., 2009) Patients were treated through individualized treatment, which required them to stay between 6 months to 2 years in hospital.

Although Africa and other developing nations lead in the number of those infected with tuberculosis, the infected population in the world is currently estimated to be at around one third of the

India, the second most populous country with over 1.31 billion people, has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world, accounting for 20% of the global incidence of TB, and an even higher share of global incidence of multi–drug resistant (MDR) TB. With an estimated 2 million new cases of TB and 5, 00,000 TB-related deaths in India annually, those who got diagnosed with different forms of DR-TB were 35,385 cases but only 20,753 people started on multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatment in 2013. The National Tuberculosis Program was launched in 1962, but suffered heavily continuing TB led mortality. Acknowledging this reality, a Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was launched by the Government of India in 1997, however even today it does not comply with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.