Tuberculosis : Control and Treatments :: Essays on TB

Abstract: Tuberculosis is a threatening infectious disease that kills two million people each year and threatens the lives of billions left only infected (Tuberculosis: How is TB). In the 17th and 18th century, this ruthless disease was nicknamed the â€Å"White Plague† in Europe because nearly 100% contracted it. This disease in its active stage attacks the lungs, kidneys, bones, joints, and even the brain. In the 1940s, the first antibiotics were used to combat against it, but misuse led to drug resistance, which is even worse. Our immune system, which produces macrophages to surround the tubercle bacilli to keep the mycobacterium tuberculosis under control, along with the help of antibiotics have been proven successful in most cases but not all. There are several treatments that have enabled success, such as tablets for common cases and chemotherapy for extensively- drug resistant ones, in addition, the DOTS strategy and the BCG vaccine have aided to control TB from spreading; treatm ents are needed in order to aid our immune system because there are factors that allow the TB bacteria to infect and cause disease. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although our bodies are equipped to prevent it from entering and taking over our bodies, our bodies can only do so much before we become ill. Our body has lines of defenses, from the mucus in our nasal cavity to the acidity in our stomach to kill the bacteria. In addition, it walls off the microbes of tuberculosis in â€Å"tiny capsules†, but the down part is that they aren’t killed, they are just captured â€Å"until some event triggers the disease’s emergence† (Tuberculosis). This is why although â€Å"as much as 1/3 of the world’s population, two billion people, carry TB bacteria, most never develop active Tuberculosis disease† (Tuberculosis: How is TB). This leads to another point, the difference between active and inactive tuberculosis. Inactive tuberculosis refers to resulting in a positive Tuberculin (PPD) skin test, which means having TB i nfection, but not being ill or contagious, in other words, having the mycobacterium captured. The mycobacterium gets released when the infected person becomes weak, ill, and/or 1 undernourished, basically, when he/she gets a weak immune system and/or he/she is highly exposed to the mycobacterium again. It isn’t unordinary to be completely fine and then develop active TB. According to studies, â€Å"half of the people who go from having an infection to developing active TB develop it in the first 5 years after the infection† (Why is the BCG).