| Title |
WORLD TUBERCULOSIS
DAY |
|
Date-wise Events |
March 24 every year |
|
Description |
- This day is observed to make people aware of the menace
of this disease.
- Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is an infectious disease caused
by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium
tuberculosis.
- TB stands for tubercle bacillus.
- TB typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect
other parts of the body.
- Cough, sneeze or transmission of respiratory fluids by
any means by the TB infected people are the common routes
for spreading the disease.
- Most infections are asymptomatic and latent, but about
one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active
disease which, if left untreated, becomes the reason for
death of about 50% of those so infected.
- Chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, fever,
night sweats, and weight loss, are the classic symptoms of
active TB.
- It is generally diagnosed by radiology as also
microscopic examination and microbiological culture of body
fluids.
- Treatment of TB is difficult and requires administration
of multiple antibiotics over a long period of time.
- One third of the world's population is thought to have
been infected with TB, with new infections occurring at a
rate of about one per second.
- About 80% of the population in many Asian and African
countries test positive in tuberculin tests.
- World Tuberculosis Day, falling on March 24 each year,
is designed to build public awareness about the global
epidemic of tuberculosis and efforts to eliminate the
disease.
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