May 16, 2008

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Tuberculosis

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 and maintains a 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 deaths from TB occurred.

    • Up to 8 million new cases of TB develop each year.

    • More than 90% of these cases occur in developing nations that have poor resources and high numbers of people infected with HIV.
  • In the United States, 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 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 32% of the global population was infected with TB bacteria.

    • 7.9 million new cases of TB developed.

    • 1.87 million people died of this disease.

  • 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.



Next: Tuberculosis Causes »



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Last Editorial Review: 8/10/2005

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