Tuberculosis, also known as TB, is a disease caused by the bacteria known as Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. This disease primary infects the lungs, also it can also invade other parts of the body, which is known as extra pulmonary tuberculosis. TB is an especially hard disease to control because the bacteria can lay dormant inside the body of a healthy person for years without being infectious to others or causing symptoms. This is known as latent TB. However, when the bacteria becomes active in the body and causes symptoms, the person is infectious. This is known as TB disease or active TB. (CDC, 2016)
Active TB in the lungs manifests as pulmonary symptoms. This includes severe, persistent cough, chest pain, and coughing up blood or sputum. …show more content…
The agent for TB, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, is perfectly designed to infect those in low-income countries. As the TB bacteria is spread through the air, conditions where people are in close quarters are going to promote spread of TB. Lower-income countries typically suffer from overcrowding and multiple people may live in the same housing structure. This also ties into the environment in low-income countries. In addition to close quarters, low-income countries will have less sanitation and less access to testing and treatment for TB, promoting spread of TB in these …show more content…
The health status of the host has a huge impact on whether or not a person infected with TB will become active and infectious. In a healthy person, TB infection can remain latent in the body for long periods of time. When a person’s immune system becomes weakened in some way, the TB bacteria then has the chance to become active and therefore infectious. For example, those with HIV, malnutrition, or who use tobacco are more likely to become active. The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV plays an especially influential role in the spread and mortality of TB. WHO estimated that in 2014 at least one third of people living with HIV were also infected with TB. WHO further elaborates on this relationship between TB and HIV, stating that “HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other 's progress. In 2014 about 0.4 million people died of HIV-associated TB. Approximately one third of deaths among HIV-positive people were due to TB in 2014.” (TB, WHO, 2014). Living with HIV makes a person 20-30 times more likely to become infected with TB, and those who has HIV are more likely to have active TB than latent
Active TB in the lungs manifests as pulmonary symptoms. This includes severe, persistent cough, chest pain, and coughing up blood or sputum. …show more content…
The agent for TB, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, is perfectly designed to infect those in low-income countries. As the TB bacteria is spread through the air, conditions where people are in close quarters are going to promote spread of TB. Lower-income countries typically suffer from overcrowding and multiple people may live in the same housing structure. This also ties into the environment in low-income countries. In addition to close quarters, low-income countries will have less sanitation and less access to testing and treatment for TB, promoting spread of TB in these …show more content…
The health status of the host has a huge impact on whether or not a person infected with TB will become active and infectious. In a healthy person, TB infection can remain latent in the body for long periods of time. When a person’s immune system becomes weakened in some way, the TB bacteria then has the chance to become active and therefore infectious. For example, those with HIV, malnutrition, or who use tobacco are more likely to become active. The human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV plays an especially influential role in the spread and mortality of TB. WHO estimated that in 2014 at least one third of people living with HIV were also infected with TB. WHO further elaborates on this relationship between TB and HIV, stating that “HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other 's progress. In 2014 about 0.4 million people died of HIV-associated TB. Approximately one third of deaths among HIV-positive people were due to TB in 2014.” (TB, WHO, 2014). Living with HIV makes a person 20-30 times more likely to become infected with TB, and those who has HIV are more likely to have active TB than latent