Tuberculosis

• Tuberculosis Overview
• Tuberculosis Causes
• Tuberculosis Symptoms
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Exams and Tests
• Tuberculosis Treatment
• Medical Treatment
• Prevention
• Outlook
• Pictures
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editors
• Viewer Comments: Tuberculosis - How Was Diagnosis Established

Tuberculosis Overview

Tuberculosis (TB) describes an infectious disease that has plagued humans since the Neolithic times. Two organisms cause tuberculosis -- Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis.

Physicians in ancient Greece called this illness "phthisis" to reflect its wasting character. During the 17th and 18th centuries, TB caused up to 25% of all deaths in Europe. In more recent times, tuberculosis has been called "consumption."

• Robert Koch isolated the tubercle bacillus in 1882 and established TB as an infectious disease.



• In the 19th century, patients were isolated in sanatoria and given treatments such as injecting air into the chest cavity. Attempts were made to decrease lung size by surgery called thoracoplasty.



• During the first half of the 20th century, no effective treatment was available.



• Streptomycin, the first antibiotic to fight TB, was introduced in 1946, and isoniazid (Laniazid, Nydrazid) became available in 1952.


• M. tuberculosis is a rod-shaped, slow-growing bacterium.



• M. tuberculosis' cell wall has high acid content, which makes it hydrophobic, resistant to oral fluids.



• The cell wall absorbs a certain dye used in the preparation of slides for examination under the microscope and maintains this red color despite attempts at decolorization, hence the name acid-fast bacilli.


• M. tuberculosis continues to kill millions of people yearly worldwide. In 1995, 3 million people died from TB.



• More than 90% of TB cases occur in developing nations that have poor resources and high numbers of people infected with HIV.

• In the United States, the incidence of TB began to decline around 1900, because of improved living conditions.



• TB cases have increased since 1985, most likely due to the increase in HIV.

• Tuberculosis continues to be a major health problem worldwide. In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that one-third of the global population was infected with TB bacteria.



• 8.8 million new cases of TB developed.



• 1.6 million people died of this disease in 2005.



• Each person with untreated active TB will infect on average 10-15 people each year.



• A new infection occurs every second.



• With the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis continues to lay waste to large populations. The emergence of drug-resistant organisms threatens to make this disease once again incurable.



• In 1993, the WHO declared tuberculosis a global emergency.

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Tuberculosis - How Was Diagnosis Established

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