Tuberculosis Is Among the Major Infectious Killer Diseases Essay

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

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

Tuberculosis or TB as it is commonly known, is an infection caused by bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a communicable disease caused by bacteria affecting the lungs, and it spreads when infection airborne droplets, produced when a person with tuberculosis of the lung or throat coughs or sneezes, are inhaled [1]. It is a disease that has essentially been eradicated in the Western world, however it continues to impact millions in the developing world despite it being both preventable and curable.

TB is a major cause of mortality and morbidity globally that boils down to one small, single infection. TB can be classified into 2 stages; Latent TB and Active TB. In Latent TB, the bacteria remain in the body in an inactive or dormant state. A person will not have any symptoms because their immune mechanism has stopped the bacteria from growing. Latent TB can remain in a dormant state for year (Zager et al, 2009). However this disease can easily change to Active TB. This change mainly occurs due to the rapid increase of Mycobacterium TB within an individual when a person becomes ill or their immune system is compromise. Ninety percent of the time, those who are infected with

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that affects one third of the world's population. The most infected areas are developing counties or third worlds countries such as Africa, India, Pakistan, and East Timor.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a CDC (Centers for Disease Control) notifiable disease which is caused by an infectious bacterium that was discovered by a man named Robert Koch in 1882. This infectious bacterium that causes Tuberculosis is called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), and is also known as Koch 's Bacillus. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (2015), Mtb is a small, slow-growing bacterium that can live only in people. It is not found in other animals, insects, soil, or other non-living things. Mtb is an aerobic bacterium, which means

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).

MDR-TB is defined as a form of TB that is resistant to the two most potent TB antibiotics, isoniazid and rifampin. MDR-TB is mostly associated with secondary resistance 5. MDR-TB spreads in the same manner as sensitive TB from one person to another. MDR-TB arises due to the bacteria starting to synthesize drug degrading enzymes or drug efflux or due to spontaneous mutations. In order to treat MDR-TB, community-based therapeutic approaches with programs such as MDR-TB specific Directly Observed Therapy – Short Course (DOTS)-Plus holds promise 6. Another approach follows therapy with second line antibiotics, however those are more expensive and have notable side effects. MDR-TB is believed to have a mortality rate of 80%.

Tuberculosis is a major global health crisis with at least 10.4 million cases worldwide reported in 2016. An estimated 1.7 million of deaths is associated with the disease. It is also the leading infection that kills people infected with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

TB is diagnosed with a TB skin test or a blood test. Tuberculin skin text or the Mantoux test is performed by injecting a small amount of fluid called tuberculin into the forearms on the top layer of the skin. It should be read 48 to 72 hours after. A positive TB skin test means that the person came in contact with an infected person but does not mean the person does necessarily have TB disease. The blood test examines the reaction seen in the person’s blood to the bacteria that cause TB. A positive blood test means that the person has been infected but not necessarily has TB disease. If TB is suspected, further testing is needed. A health care provider will review the persons medical history, perform a medical examination, obtain a chest x-ray, a sputum test, and run more tests to ensure proper diagnosis of any case of TB

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 2013, about 3.5% of new cases and 20.5% of previously-treated cases were multi-drug resistant (MDR) (see Table 1), of which 9.0% were extensively drug resistant (XDR), a proportion that has not changed over several years.1 Moreover, of the 9 million people who developed TB in 2013, more than 1.1 million (13%) were also HIV-positive, with the African region accounting for nearly four out of every five HIV-positive TB cases and deaths among HIV-positive people1 (see Figure 1).

Tuberculosis is a major pandemic all across the world. It mainly effects the lungs but can spread to other organs. It is a bacterial infection that can be treated. Tuberculosis germs are spread through the air through coughing, sneezing, or spitting. It takes very few of these germs to breathed in to get this disease. About a third of people have latent tuberculosis which is when you have been infected by it but you 're not yet sick. you also can not transmit the disease to other people when you have latent tuberculosis. Millions of lives have been saved by diagnosing on time and correctly treating tuberculosis. Latent tuberculosis is treated by a 9 month one drug treatment while active tuberculosis is treated by a normal 4 drug 6 month treatment. (NA october 2014)

Tuberculosis, also identified as TB, has been around for countless years. In the past, however, the disease was not known, which made it untreatable in most healthcare settings. The evolution of time made it possible to easily detect and manage tuberculosis before people were adversely affected by it. It is a disease that often affects an individual’s lungs, but it can also affect other body parts. The spine, kidneys, bones, and even the lymph nodes may sometimes be affected by the disease. The spread is usually from one person with the disease to an uninfected person through the air. Whenever individuals with the TB disease cough, laugh, or even talk, the disease is spread through tiny droplets that are found in the person’s respiratory

Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly contagious disease that could cause death if it is not treated. TB is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and it affects the lungs and other human organs (Frith, 2014). Tuberculosis is an airborne disease that could be transmitted by sneezing, coughing, and speaking. According to world health organization (WHO), 9.6 million people were affected by Tuberculosis and 1.5 million died from the disease in 2014 worldwide. 9,421 cases of Tuberculosis were reported in United States in 2014 which has declined comparing to 26,673 cases reported in 1992. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are seven high-risk factor countries that are affected by Tuberculosis. Mexico, Philippines, Vietnam, India, china, Haiti, and Guatemala are the countries which still have high risk of Tuberculosis infection. Throughout history Tuberculosis was associated with different names. Some of those names are: phthisis and consumption in 18th century, white death and the great white plague in 19th century and other names to describe the horror caused by the disease. Previously people have used human breast milk, eating wolf livers, drinking elephant urine, and etc.as a treatment for TB (Frith,2014). In 21st century Tuberculosis is treated by medications like: isoniazid (INH), Rifampin (RIF), Rifapentine (RPT), Ethambutol (EMB), and Pyrazinamide (PZA). The treatments are highly effective and are used to treat people who are exposed and