On March 24 of each year, the world commemorates World Tuberculosis Day, a disease that kills regarding 1.6 million people annually, according to Global Health Organization.
Tuberculosis mainly affects the lungs, but it can be prevented, treated and cured, even though it is one of the largest causes of infectious diseases in the world, according to the United Nations.
What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis is caused by a germ called “Mycobacterium tuberculosis.” These bacteria usually attack the lungs, but they can attack any part of the body such as the kidneys, spine, and brain, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.CDC“.
According to the same source, a person infected with tuberculosis bacteria does not necessarily get sick with the common disease, as there are two cases associated with tuberculosis, the first is latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and the second is tuberculosis, as we know it, where the case here is the natural development of the latent infection if it is not treated properly. .
It is noteworthy that if the necessary treatment measures are not taken once morest tuberculosis, the disease can be fatal.
Its most prominent symptoms
Symptoms of TB depend on where in the body the bacteria that cause it grow, while most often, TB bacteria grow in the lungs.
Tuberculosis may cause symptoms individually or in combination, such as a severe cough that lasts for 3 weeks or more, chest pain, in addition to coughing up blood or sputum coming from the depths of the lungs.
Tuberculosis also has other symptoms that you may not notice because they are not associated with it, such as weakness or fatigue, weight loss, lack of appetite, frequent chills, fever, and night sweats.
How is tuberculosis spread?
The bacteria that cause tuberculosis spread from person to person through the air. When a person with tuberculosis coughs or speaks, the bacteria can be transmitted through the air. People who are nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.
And the “CDC” stresses that the disease, even if it is rapidly transmissible, cannot infect anyone easily, through regular shaking hands, sharing food or drink, touching bed covers or toilet seats, or even kissing.
However, when a person inhales TB bacteria, it can settle in their lungs and start growing, and from there, it can travel through the blood to other parts of the body such as the kidneys, spine and brain.
Tuberculosis is usually transmitted to people who spend a lot of time with the infected person, such as family members, friends, work colleagues or classmates.
numbers..
Although deaths have fallen by regarding 40 percent globally since 2000, WHO says it wants to redouble its efforts to expand an initiative it launched five years ago to eliminate the disease completely by 2030.
In 2021, nearly 10.6 million people contracted the disease, more than a million and a half of whom died, as drug resistance remains a major problem on the way to overcoming this fast-transmissible disease.
Nearly half a million people contract drug-resistant tuberculosis each year.
Drug-resistant TB, which is caused by bacteria that do not respond to conventional TB treatments, is a particularly worrisome disease and a growing problem, according to WHO.MSF“.
Is there a cure?
The only authorized tuberculosis vaccine, to date, is the “Bacillus Calmette-Guérin”, which, although it provides moderate effectiveness in preventing severe forms of tuberculosis in infants and young children, does not provide adequate protection for adolescents and adults, who They account for nearly 90 percent of TB transmissions globally.
Therefore, the World Health Organization recently commissioned a study on investment in new tuberculosis vaccines, which estimates that a vaccine that is 50 percent effective in preventing the disease among young people and adults, might avert up to 76 million cases of tuberculosis.
Pharmaceutical companies have developed two main drugs for the treatment of tuberculosis, bedaquiline and delamanid, which work separately, as “these companies have not conducted studies on the safety and efficacy of the two drugs in the event of their participation with the currently available drugs,” says the “Doctors Without Borders” organization.
Bedaquiline was first authorized for use in 2012, when it was the first A drug for tuberculosis Drug-resistant drugs have been in development for more than 40 years.
But as of late 2018, only 28,700 people worldwide had access to it, less than 20 percent of those who would benefit.
People most susceptible to disease
Many people with latent TB infection do not necessarily develop TB disease, but some are more susceptible than others.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the people most likely to get TB are those with latent TB bacteria within the last two years and people people with HIVand those who suffer from diseases that affect the immune system in general, and all those who inject drugs, in addition to the elderly, infants and young children.
advice!
If you have a latent TB infection and you belong to a risk group, you should approach your attending physician.
There are several treatment options for latent TB infection. If you take your medicine as directed, it may prevent you from getting TB.
Because there are fewer bacteria present, latent TB infection is much easier to treat than TB disease.
protection
You should generally not approach an injured person, if you know that he is, and if you do not know, such as meeting people you do not know, or do not know their infection and / or during travel, you should avoid close contact in general or prolonged contact especially in crowded and closed environments (such as clinics or hospitals or prisons).
Although a number of cases of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and highly drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis have been reported worldwide, they are still rare.
HIV-positive travelers are at particular risk if they come into contact with someone who has MDR-TB or XDR-TB.
Therefore, people who work in clinics, hospitals, or other healthcare settings should ask regarding administrative and environmental measures to prevent exposure to TB.
These measures may include the use of personal respiratory protection devices such as a mask.
