The Tuberculosis Epidemic

Tuberculosis has long been a disease that the human culture has been dealing with which entails significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. With dealing with such a horrific disease over the years, discoveries and evolution on the appropriate ways to contain, diagnose, and challengingly treat the disease has changed. One of the most concerning complications of this worldwide public health issue is the ability for it to quickly spread in high populated areas while becoming ever more resistant to forms of treatment not available in all locations around the world. This is a serious public

Complicating the issue of TB’s global spread, is the disease’s mutation into multi-drug resistant strains. The evolution of the bacteria is due to improper or incomplete treatment regimens. Due to TB’s ability to manifest itself in latent and active forms, there are two main sets of treatment options. Both must be strictly adhered to or the patient runs the risk of further infection and death. In terms of treating latent tuberculosis the goal is prevention and elimination. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are four standard regimens for treating latent tuberculosis. The first is a nine-month regimen of Isoniazid taken either once daily or twice a week. The second is a shorter regiment, six months, of Isoniazid with a smaller dose, yet also taken once daily or twice a week. The third regimen lasts three months and is a combination of Isoniazid and Rifapentine taken once a week. The fourth regiment lasts four months and is completed through daily doses of Rifampin (CDC, 2012).

Tuberculosis is most of the feared and widespread that has harassed humans. Tuberculosis is a disease that affects the lungs and other organs too. This is a very serious disease that can cause death and the worse part is that this disease travels to one person to another. In the book, Know about Tuberculosis, a boy who has tuberculosis sneezed on another boy named Kevin who did not automatically catch tuberculosis, but the terms have taken root. According to the book, Know about Tuberculosis, “In the United States, about ten to fifteen million people are infected with this disease, but only ten percent of people are infected; however doctors assume that the battle against tuberculosis is increasing around the world.” Tuberculosis is among the major concerns for the World Health Organization due to its contagious nature.

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.

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.

Once believed to be easily treated and prevented, Tuberculosis (TB) has recently been making a steady comeback. Previous to modern medicine, TB claimed millions of victims, spreading from person to person like wildfire. Around the 17th-18th centuries, the “White Plague” took the lives of 1 in 5 adults (20%) in Europe and North America (Iseman, 1994). However, as technological advances progressed, this seemingly ferocious viral disease became a primal, insignificant thing of the past. But, in the nature of all bacteria, TB has, in the recent years, mutated to become progressively drug resistant. Why is Tuberculosis coming back with a vengeance? Well, the answer’s quite simple. TB has done an amazing job of standing in the corner and

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.

According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis (TB) is the number two killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent (WHO, 2017). In 2015, 10.4 million new cases have been identified and 1.8 million people have died from this disease (WHO, 2017). TB is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium TB, and the majority of TB deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. This disease is curable and preventable, but the lack of access to proper healthcare and medication administration makes it a concern for the most of the world’s population. TB is an airborne disease that can transmit when an infected person coughs, sneezes, spits, laughs, or talks. The majority of TB cases can be cured when the right medications are available and

Originally known as consumption and/or phthisis pulmonaris, evidence of TB has existed in the form of ancient writings from ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the organism causing tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) has existed for approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years. Despite the origins of tuberculosis dating back for ages, tuberculosis did not fully reach a critical epidemic status until the 18th and 19th centuries, when nearly one-tenth of the population died as a result of many factors, “Poorly ventilated and overcrowded housing, primitive sanitation, malnutrition and other factors led to the rise [of tuberculosis]” (Mandal 1). Ultimately, the horrendous atmosphere of Victorian England completely influenced the inevitable impact of tuberculosis as it led to significant symptoms and then the unhurried discovery of tuberculosis treatment. As a result, the view towards tuberculosis in the Victorian Era fundamentally changed. Meanwhile, tuberculosis emerged and did not spare anyone as famous English citizens including Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Frederic Chopin all succumbed to the deadly disease.

Active disease is diagnosed with chest x-ray, skin or blood tests and sputum smears. Cat scans and MRI’s can also be used for diagnosing. Treatment for active non-resistant TB consists of the use of a two drug therapy, generally isoniazid and rifampicin. Cure rate for this strain of TB can be over 90%. Treatment for active TB is done for a minimum of six months. As a result of individuals incompletely finishing their recommended dose of anti-tubercular

Despite the accessibility of inexpensive and successful treatment, tuberculosis still accounts for millions of cases of active disease and deaths worldwide. The disease unreasonably has an effect on the neediest persons in both high-income and developing countries. However, recent improvements in diagnostics, drugs, vaccines and enhanced implementation of present interventions have increased the outlooks for enhanced clinical care and global tuberculosis restriction.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic bacterial infection that affects millions of people globally. It is a contagious disease that is spread through the air, and it usually affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person through droplets from the respiratory tract of those who are already infected with the disease. Some who are infected with the bacteria that causes TB often exhibit no symptoms, because their immune systems stop the bacteria from growing and multiplying. Those with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to developing the full blown disease which can cause symptoms that include coughing, spitting blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, and fever. Tuberculosis can be treated with a six to nine month course of a combination of antibiotics. If left untreated, TB will spread and can be fatal.

Ideally the treatment begins before the active disease has developed. The common treatment for tuberculosis is antimicrobial drug isoniazid, but other people who are infected usual will use a combination of different antituberculosis drugs. Bedaquiline is a drug used to treat multi-drug resistance and extensively drug-resistant TB. In 2012 an estimated 1.3 million died from the

For many people in the U.S. tuberculosis represents a disease process that one rarely sees. For this reason the reality of tuberculosis outside of the U.S. can easily be lost. CDC statistics report that approximately one third of the world 's population is infected with tuberculosis.1 This can be a sobering statistic for an individual wholly removed from the idea that tuberculosis, abbreviated TB, remains a prominent disease process throughout much of the world. The objective will be to provide not just an informative description of the disease, it 's etiology, clinical manifestations, treatments, and prognosis, but also to provide a reminder that tuberculosis retains a significant presence in the world despite the early

Tuberculosis is among the fatal diseases that are spread through the air. It’s contagious, meaning that it spreads from one infected individual to another, and at times it spreads very fast. In addition to being contagious, the disease is an opportunist infection as it takes advantage of those with weak defense mechanism, and especially the ones with terminal diseases like HIV and AIDS. Tuberculosis is therefore among the major concerns for the World Health Organization due to its contagious nature (World Health Organization 1).