Why in News?

• World Tuberculosis (TB) Day has recently observed on 24^th March every year to spread awareness about the disease and how best to combat it.

Highlights

• On this day in 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that causes TB, and his discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
• Even today TB is one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers. As per WHO (World Health Organisation), every day, over 4100 people lose their lives to TB and about 28,000 people fall ill with this disease. Deaths from tuberculosis have risen in 2020 for the first time in more than a decade.
• According to the WHO, in 2020, around 9,900,000 people fell ill with TB and died, around 1,500,000. Since the year 2000, 66,000,000 lives have been saved by efforts taken globally to end TB.
• India accounts for roughly 28% of TB cases in the world, as per the Global TB Report 2022.
• Therefore, World TB Day is observed to educate people around the world about the disease TB and its impact.

What is Tuberculosis?

About:

• Tuberculosis is an infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It can practically affect any organ of the body. The most common ones are lungs, pleura (lining around the lungs), lymph nodes, intestines, spine, and brain.

Transmission:

• It is an airborne infection that spreads through close contact with the infected, especially in densely populated spaces with poor ventilation.

Symptoms:

• Common symptoms of active lung TB are cough with sputum and blood at times, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats.

Treatment:

• TB is a treatable and curable disease. It is treated with a standard 6-month course of 4 antimicrobial drugs that are provided with information, supervision and support to the patient by a health worker or trained volunteer.
• Anti-TB medicines have been used for decades and strains that are resistant to 1 or more of the medicines have been documented in every country surveyed.
• Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most powerful, first-line anti-TB drugs.
• MDR-TB is treatable and curable by using second-line drugs such as Bedaquiline.
• Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is a more serious form of MDR-TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to the most effective second-line anti-TB drugs, often leaving patients without any further treatment options.