World TB Day is observed around the world on March 24th of each year. The day is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis (TB) today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of nearly 1.5 million people each year, mostly in developing countries. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the TB bacillus, which is the cause of tuberculosis, a contagious disease that can affect almost any part of the body, but is found mainly in the lungs. If not treated properly, TB can be fatal. At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way toward diagnosing and curing TB.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), death from TB dropped by 47% between 1990 and 2015, but TB is still a top infectious disease killer worldwide, killing more than 4,000 people each day. TB still exists in the United States, with the 9,421 cases reported in 2014 representing the smallest decline in more than a decade and the 555 deaths reported in 2013 showing an 8% increase over 2012. Maryland reported 198 cases in 2014 (Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) reflecting a decrease from the five previous years.
For more information about tuberculosis or Wicomico Health’s TB program, visit wicomicohealth.org or call 410-543-6943.
TB was almost non-existent in the US till illegals started bringing it in. Now it's everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIt's a terrible disease. The 25 year old brother of a good friend woke up one morning with a bad headache. By the end of the day he was paralyzed from below the shoulders from TB that had eaten the nerves in his spine. He spent the rest of his life in a chair or bed, living to the not so ripe old age of 46.
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