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Tuberculosis still affects thousands of people worldwide, and today (3/24)has been set aside to remind us of that. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more…
Today (3/24) is World TB Day—a day to commemorate the date that Dr. Robert Koch announced the bacteria that causes tuberculosis or TB. But Kendra Williams, administrator of community health and epidemiology with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, says the day is more than that…
"Well, it's a day when the Centers for Disease Control can focus in on a disease--tuberculosis--that, you know, most individuals don't necessarily think of. You know, we think of it as a disease that occurred many years ago and we really don't have a problem with it now, but one day to actuallyfocus on it, and we can talk about the fact that, you know, it's estimated that a third of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis, so it is still an ongoing problem."
Tuberculosis kills nearly 2 million people worldwide each year. It’s a disease caused by the bacterium mycobacterium tuberculosis. It normally affects the lungs but can affect other areas of the body as well. Symptoms of active disease include a cough lasting longer than three weeks, chest pain, coughing up blood, fatigue, weight loss, chills, fever and night sweats. TB can cause serious illness or death unless it’s treated.It’s the leading cause of death among those affected with HIV.80 cases of active TB were discovered in Missouri last year, and more than 3300 Missourians were diagnosed with the latent form of the disease…
"Latent TB infection means that an individual has been exposed and is infected with the bacteria but is not showing symptoms. They are not contagious to other people around them."
"The bacterium are expelled into the air and somebody else can breath that in, and then they become possibly infectedwith the bacterium. You cannot get it from drinking or eating after somebody or kissing them. It really is a matter of exposure thru the air."
According to Williams, those with active TB can spread the disease by coughing, sneezing, talking or singing…Anyone who believes they may have been exposed to TB should be tested since the disease is preventable and treatable if caught in time.To learn more, visit http://dhss.mo.gov/Tuberculosis.For KSMU News, I’m Michele Skalicky.
