Tuberculosis and Drug Resistance
- Ernie J. Burgher and SitiTalkBlog
- Jul 24, 2016
- 2 min read
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s deadliest diseases:
One third of the world’s population is infected with TB.
In 2014, 9.6 million people around the world became sick with TB disease. There were 1.5 million TB-related deaths worldwide.
TB is a leading killer of people who are HIV infected.
Tuberculosis (TB) has possibly killed more human beings than any other disease throughout history. With almost 9 million new cases each year, TB remains one of the most feared diseases on the planet. Despite the recent advances of global control efforts, tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in most developing countries especially countries with high HIV rates like South African and Nigeria. Current global estimates indicate that about a third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and almost 1.7 million TB deaths are occurred in 2006.
Into the 21st century it is still one of the leading causes of deaths among all infectious diseases, killing at least 2 million people every year. The situation became even worse by the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Anyone of any race, age or nationality can contract TB, but certain factors increase risk of the disease.
Tuberculosis has been described a disease of poverty, but other factors are likely to be important as well. There are two well-known types of drug resistant TB:
1. Multidrug-resistant TB and 2. Extensively drug-resistant TB
Any patient with drug resistant Tuberculosis has not been treated properly, did not take the medication as prescribed, or was infected by someone who had not been treated properly or did not take their medication as prescribed. With increased international travel, TB and inevitably Drug Resistant strains of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, is readily circulating throughout the world.
Why drug resistant tuberculosis in developing countries is much more prevalent than in developed countries? Read more
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Ernie J. Burgher is a bi-lingual freelance journalist and author, and speaks English and French. Ernie writes for SitiTalkBlog.
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