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Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, [7] is a contagious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. [1] Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. [1]
As such, a person diagnosed with latent TB can safely assume that, even after treatment, they will carry the bacteria – likely for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, "It has been estimated that up to one-third of the world's population is infected with M. tuberculosis , and this population is an important reservoir for disease reactivation."
Human infectious diseases may be characterized by their case fatality rate (CFR), the proportion of people diagnosed with a disease who die from it (cf. mortality rate).It should not be confused with the infection fatality rate (IFR), the estimated proportion of people infected by a disease-causing agent, including asymptomatic and undiagnosed infections, who die from the disease.
The causes listed are relatively immediate medical causes, but the ultimate cause of death might be described differently. For example, tobacco smoking often causes lung disease or cancer, and alcohol use disorder can cause liver failure or a motor vehicle accident.
The risk of developing TB is estimated to be between 20 and 37 times greater in people living with HIV than among those without HIV infection. TB is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV. [13] In 2009, there were 9.4 million new cases of TB, of which 1.2 (13%) million were among people living with HIV.
The BCG vaccine prevents severe forms of TB in children, such as TB meningitis. It would be expected that BCG would have the same effect in preventing severe forms of TB in children, even if they were exposed to XDR-TB. The vaccine has shown to be less effective at preventing the most common strains of TB and in blocking TB in adults. [6]
As of May 11, just over 53% of children between ages 6 months and 17 years old were vaccinated this season, which was lower than the prior season’s 56%, when there were 187 deaths.
These people can in turn infect other people with MDR-TB. [5] [8] MDR-TB caused an estimated 600,000 new TB cases and 240,000 deaths in 2016 and MDR-TB accounts for 4.1% of all new TB cases and 19% of previously treated cases worldwide. [13] Globally, most MDR-TB cases occur in South America, Southern Africa, India, China, and the former Soviet ...