Tuberculosis As A Socially Determined Disease

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.

For the longest time, tuberculosis could only be identified by excruciating internal lesions. Confusingly, these lesions varied extremely by patient and only complicated potential diagnosis. The effects of tuberculosis remained entirely unknown until the astonishing discovery Robert Koch made in 1882 regarding the origin of tuberculosis: “It had thus evaded the medical profession for centuries, and it was not until Robert Koch’s identification of the tuberculosis bacillus in 1882 that its cause and means of transmission finally became known” (Byrne 2). Discovering the mysterious tuberculosis bacillus bacteria, Robert Koch provided a new foundation and first step towards learning more about the symptoms of tuberculosis. Utilizing Koch’s discovery, scientists and doctors suddenly acquired the ability to further investigate and research the causes and symptoms of tuberculosis, and therefore discovered that symptoms normally began to appear once a person became infected with small airborne particles. While examining people with the incompatible illness, they learned that tuberculosis directly affected the lungs, spine and kidney, which often results in bloody urine. Furthermore, additional symptoms included persistent coughing, chest pain, fever, night chills, and fatigue. Once symptoms

Tuberculosis was first discovered as a disease in 1882 by a scientist named Robert Koch (Rothman, 1994). Within a short period of time it was discovered that this was an infectious disease, along with being a disease that affected certain populations (Rothman, 1994). It was discovered that a vast majority of the individuals affected were either immigrant, therefore generally a minority population, or were of poor or working class status (Rothman, 1994). Several movements and directives were used during this time to attempt to stop the spread of tuberculosis, such as, “being outside in the clean air as much as possible, not drinking alcohol, and drinking plenty of clean water,” among others (Rothman, 1994). Between 1906 and 1919 a vaccine was developed by Albert Calmette and Camille Geurin, a pair of French scientists, to help prevent this terrible disease (Kupferschmidt, 2011). This BCG vaccine, or Bacillus

Tuberculosis is a 6000 years old disease, but the first time it infected human was in Africa 5000 years ago. Due to its danger it is called the white plague. It was transmitted to human by animals, so hunters were that first people who caught the disease. After that, the disease had spread to Europe and America through trade routes. This disease appeared in Ancient India, Ancient China, Classical antiquity, Pre-Columbian America, Europe: middle ages and renaissance, until Twentieth century. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis was first discovered by Robert Koch in 24 march 1882, and he received the Nobel Prize for his discovery. Throughout the ages, tuberculosis has infected tens of millions of people, and killed

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.

It is estimated that the genus Myobacterium originated roughly 150 million years ago.1 East Africa was the birthplace of both Myobacterium tuberculosis (TB) and of its human hosts.1 Documentation of TB traces back 5,000 years to Egypt where skeletal deformities typical of TB, including Pott’s deformities are exhibited in skeletal remains.1 Early migration of these peoples resulted in the spread of TB, which eventually spread worldwide. Tuberculosis became a horrific killer, surging in terrible epidemics, possibly killing more people than any other microbial pathogen.1 The scourge of TB began to be

TB has been taunting not only humans, but also animals for well over thousands of years. Within these years, a great deal of research and experiments have been conducted on this infectious disease. Many scientists have conducted this research and have made profound discoveries about Tuberculosis. This paper will explore not just Tuberculosis ' history but rather key information and important facts about this disease. Such information includes the discovery of antibiotics and medications produced through the years that are used to help cure the disease.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that originates from the specific bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB typically affects the lungs the most by manifesting into pulmonary TB, but there is always a potential for any body parts to get affected by said bacteria. Transmission of TB occurs when individuals with active pulmonary TB cough, spit, or sneeze, which has the potential to release aerosol droplets of TB infected saliva. This makes TB a highly infectious disease with a plausible likelihood that it could spread rampantly if the conditions were proper for bacterial transmission. In addition to manifesting in infectious manners, TB is quite closely linked to overcrowding and malnutrition which infers that it occurs at higher

One of the top infectious diseases world wild, tuberculosis has plagued humanity for centuries. Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium, that bacteria attacks the lungs but can also attack and spread to other body parts. Prior to medical advances not much was known about this tuberculosis disease. It is believed that Tuberculosis (or TB for short) has been around for six thousand years. Scientist theorized that TB could have first infected humans roughly five thousand years ago, from contact with infected domesticated animals and spreading along trade routes. Evidence of TB causing bacterium has

Tuberculosis is a disease derived from a bacterium called Mycobacterium. Microorganism such as mycobacteria are participates in nature’s recycling program. The wall of the membrane of the bacterium contains abnormally high levels of lipids but since M.tuberculosis lacks an outer membrane so it’s classified as both gram positives and gram negative. There are two types of tuberculosis infections pulmonary and extra-pulmonary. Pulmonary tuberculosis affects the lungs. Extra-pulmonary affects different parts of the body except the lungs. Since tuberculosis is an airborne so many can get it from shaking hands or touching public objects.

In terms of etiology, the bacterium behind tuberculosis as discovered by Koch is a very stubborn one. In his work to determine the cause of tuberculosis he describes how the bacteria shows many distinct characteristics that make them so dynamic. They are rod-shaped, thin, only one-half as long as the diameter of hemoglobin but once in a while, they are able to get as long as the diameter of a cell and belong to a group of Bacilli. In addition, they are also described to possess a form and size that resembles that of the leprosy bacillus that exists in large numbers in everywhere they exist, usually in tissue cells and also outside cells. (Koch, 1882)

Infectious diseases remain among the leading diseases in the world. Illness and death from infectious diseases are particularly tragic because they might be preventable and treatable. Tuberculosis is one of the most serious infectious diseases. People almost forgot about this disease and think that does not exist around us. Tuberculosis is a very prevalent, contagious and deadly disease worldwide. According to World Health Organization (WHO) (2014), “Today, tuberculosis remains one of the leading infectious disease killers around the world. Emerging drug-resistant strains are presenting a new challenge in the ever-changing battle to control and prevent

In 2011, there were about 8.7 million new cases, including 1.1 million cases among people living with HIV (WHO, 2013). Tuberculosis is second only to HIV/AIDS as the greatest killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent and over 95% of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (WHO, 2013). Resistant strains to known drug regimens have developed and the disease continues to be a global health challenge, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many researches have been conducted over time on the disease tuberculosis and the causative organism M. tuberculosis, all in a bid to understand the disease, its

“Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious and an often severe airborne disease caused by bacterial infection. TB is transmitted from an infected person to a susceptible person in airborne particles, called droplet nuclei, through the air usually through sneezing, coughing, spitting and singing. This bacterium usually attacks the lungs, but it also may affect any part of the body such as the kidney, spine and brain. Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick. As a result there are two TB- related conditions that exist; latent TB infection and TB disease. The latent TB does not cause any symptoms because the bacterium situated in the lungs is inactive. People can have latent TB for weeks or even years before developing active TB. If this disease is not treated properly, it can be fatal. The symptoms of TB disease depend on where in the body the TB bacteria are growing. Pulmonary TB is the most common and the symptoms are a bad cough that lasts for 3 weeks or longer, chest pain, blood discharge while coughing, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, no appetite, chills, fever and sweating at night” (CDC, 2016).

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).