The Impact of Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis or TB is usually a primary disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacteria tuberculosis; however when it comes to HIV/AIDS tuberculosis is a secondary disease. TB infection began increasing in the 1985, with the rise of HIV or AIDS. TB usually attacks the lungs; however it can attack other parts of your body such as the brain, immune system, kidneys, or spine. Active TB does not always show signs or symptoms, such as the typical signs like cough, fever or fatigue. This is why TB screening should be done on anyone exposed to TB or in a population that could be exposed to TB; such as healthcare providers, certain ethical groups, or lower income to help detect and treat the disease in its earliest stage when possible.
Around 2 million deaths are caused by Tuberculosis each year. TB is a curable disease; however it still kills around 5,000 people every day around the world. TB is a disease of mostly the poorest and malnourished; also effecting mostly young adults in these developing world. Even with the intense control efforts with reducing the number of outbreaks of TB, global TB incidence are still growing every year because of the rapid increase in the Africa area.
More than one third of the world’s population has been infected with TB bacilli, which is the microbes that causes TB. 1 in 10 that are infected with TB bacilli will get active TB within their lifetime. TB is contagious and spreads through the air; if it is not treated properly. People with untreated active TB can infect between 10 to 15 people each year.
Tuberculosis or TB will affect the world’s poorest countries financially the most; around one to three trillion dollars over the next ten years. These countries will experience one of the highest death percentages by TB averaging around 98%. Even though the entire economies are affected by the TB epidemic,