1. What is tuberculosis and why is it a concern?
TB can be treated with antibiotics.
Source: TB Global drug
Tuberculosis (TB) is a pulmonary
infectious disease that
spreads through the air. When people who are sick with TB in
their lungs cough, sneeze, talk or spit, they propel TB germs
into the air, and a person needs only to breathe in a small
number of these to be
Overall, one-third of the world's
population is currently
infected with the TB
bacillus, the bacterium
that causes tuberculosis.
However, most of these people infected with TB will never become
sick or infectious as
their immune system keeps
the infection in
People with a weakened
immune system have a
greater chance of becoming sick with
if they are also infected
with HIV. TB is one of the
major causes of death in people who are HIV-positive, and HIV is
the most important factor responsible for the rise of TB in
Africa since 1990.
The proportion of people in the general
population who become sick
with tuberculosis each year
is stable or falling worldwide but, because of population
growth, the absolute number of new cases is still increasing. In
2005, South-East Asia had the largest number of new cases but
the highest proportion of new cases and TB-related deaths was
found among the African population. About 1.6 million people
worldwide died from tuberculosis that year.
Although antibiotics to
cure TB have only been available for the past 50 years, forms of
tuberculosis that are
resistant to the major anti-TB drugs have emerged worldwide.
Drug-resistant tuberculosis is caused by inconsistent or
incomplete treatment, when doctors prescribe the wrong treatment
or when patients do not take all their medicines regularly for
the required period.
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB)
is a dangerous form of tuberculosis that is resistant to at
least isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most powerful
“first-line” anti-TB drugs. Usually, multidrug-resistant
tuberculosis can be cured with long treatments of “second-line”
drugs, but these are more expensive than
first-line drugs and have
more adverse effects.
When the rate of multidrug resistance in an area is high, it
becomes increasingly difficult to control
tuberculosis. This threat is
even more serious because of the emergence of
extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB),
particularly in settings where there are many patients who are
also infected with
HIV. XDR-TB is caused by
strains of the disease resistant to both first- and
This confirms the urgent need to strengthen TB control.
In 2006, The
launched the Stop TB Strategy, a new approach that aims at
halting the progression of
tuberculosis by 2015, and to
eliminate it as a public health problem by 2050. The six
components of the Stop TB Strategy are:
- Pursuing expansion and enhancement of the TB control
approach launched by
in 1995 (the so-called DOTS strategy).
- Addressing TB/HIV,
MDR-TB and other
- Contributing to health system strengthening.
- Engaging all care providers.
- Empowering people with TB, and communities.
- Enabling and promoting research.
This text is a summary of: WHO,
Fact sheet N°104, Revised March 2007