Journal of the International AIDS Society Blog
Today 24 March is World TB Day in commemoration of the date Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB). This year’s slogan is “On the move against tuberculosis: Innovate to accelerate action.”
TB is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease that is transmitted from person to person through air particles. People with healthy immune systems infected with M. tuberculosis are often asymptomatic. However, active TB of the lungs causes coughing (sometimes with sputum or blood), weakness, chest pains, weight loss and fever. With a course of antibiotics, TB is treatable and curable; however, every year, hundreds of thousands of people die from this infectious disease.
Every day, about 4,000 people die of TB and one-third of the world population is infected. TB is the leading cause of death for those diagnosed with HIV in Africa and a leading cause in other places around the world. In 2008 alone, an estimated 500,000 people died from HIV-associated TB. (For statistics see WHO TB/HIV Facts 2009.)
Experts agree that research is needed to find ways to reduce transmission and reactivation of TB and to reduce prevalence in people with HIV. The package of interventions proposed is referred to as the “3 I’s”: Isoniazid Preventative Therapy, Intensified Case Finding and Infection Control. (See Think TB in People with HIV for a full outline) This approach will hopefully ameliorate the effect of TB on HIV-infected people.
Experts also agree that further research is needed to develop new and better performing TB diagnostic tools. More specifically, new tools should allow increased access to diagnosis and treatment, such as a point-of-care test, as well as being adapted to all populations currently underdiagnosed such as HIV coinfected individuals and infants.
To learn more about World TB Day activities, please visit the World TB Day website.
Posted by Edith Gruslin at 08:31 Comments (0)