www.chinadaily.com.cn

Tuberculosis is primarily an illness of the respiratory systems well as a contagious disease.

The World Health Organization declared Tuberculosis (TB) a global health emergency in 1993. A global plan to stop tuberculosis aims to save 14 million lives between 2006 and 2015 sets in motion actions to reach a 2015 goal of providing access to drugs and diagnostic tests to all Tuberculosis patients, saving the lives of up to 1.2 million patients.It is estimated that 1.6 million people died of tuberculosis in 2005. Both the highest number of deaths and the highest mortality per capita are in Africa.
Africa 2007

The epidemic in Africa grew rapidly during the 1990s, but this growth has been slowing each year. Incidence rates now appear to have stabilized or begun to fall.

AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria kill 6 million men, women and children each year, and 16,000 people each day. The global fight against these diseases demands the support of international leaders, who must commit billions of dollars to meet the price tag of a comprehensive response.

In 2007, the annual cost will total $20 billion for AIDS, plus another $3 billion to $5 billion for tuberculosis and malaria. But governments cannot win this fight alone. This is a challenge that needs all of us.

According to Dr. Umotoni of Kanombe Military Hospital, Rwandans don't seem to recognise tuberculosis as a very big health problem. |"People are getting infected in this country at an alarming rate" Umotoni said.

The new infections are now most common among young people, especially those between 19 and 24 years of age. They are three to six times more likely to get tuberculosis.

He further noted that, like the common cold, it spreads when infectious people cough, sneeze, talk or spit. They propel tuberculosis germs, known as bacilli, into the air and also by aerosol droplets expelled by people with the active disease.

Tuberculosis most commonly affects the lungs, but can also affect the central nervous system, lymptic system, circulatory system, and genitourinary system. Bones, joints and even the skin, can be affected as well.

In the past, tuberculosis was called consumption because it seemed to consume people from within, with a bloody cough, fever, pallor, and long relentless wasting.

"In the patients where tuberculosis becomes an active disease, 75% of these cases affect the lungs, in which case is called pulmonary Tuberculosis," says Dr. Umotoni.

Symptoms include a prolonged cough of more than three weeks duration, chest pain and coughing up blood. Systemic symptoms include fever, chills, night sweats, appetite loss, weight loss, paling, and fatigue.

He further added people infected with tuberculosis will not necessarily become sick with the disease. The immune system "walls off" the bacteria which, protected by a thick waxy coat, can lie dormant for years. When someone's immune system is weakened, the chances of becoming sick start manifesting.

HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis form a lethal combination, each speeding the other's progress, he said. Someone who is HIV-positive and infected with tuberculosis is many times more likely to catch tuberculosis than someone infected with the disease without HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death among people who are HIV-positive.

The World Health Organization and its international partners have formed the tuberculosis/HIV working group, which develops global policy on the control of the two diseases.

It also advises on how those fighting against the diseases can work together to tackle this lethal combination.

The interim policy on collaborative tuberculosis/HIV activities describes steps to create mechanisms of collaboration between programmes.

Dr. Umotoni said that drug-resistant tuberculosis is a very common problem. It is caused by inconsistent or partial treatment, patients not taking all their medicines regularly, or doctors prescribing the wrong treatments. Sometimes, the drug can also just be unreliable.

"The drug-resistant tuberculosis is generally treatable. It requires extensive chemotherapy (up to two years of treatment) with second-line anti-TB drugs which are more costly than first-line drugs, which produce adverse drug reactions that are more severe, but manageable," says Dr. Umotoni.

In settings where many tuberculosis patients are also infected with HIV, there is a serious threat to tuberculosis control.

He further said that the contraction of tuberculosis typically requires more-than-casual contact with a person who has the active disease. The contact should normally be prolonged. This would be the kind of contact one may have with family members or close co-workers.

source:allafrica.com