Literature Review- Epidemiology of Tuberculosis

Literature Review- Epidemiology of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis or phthisis, in abbreviation TB, is one of the infectious diseases, which is resulted due to strains of mycobacteria, specifically from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is also called Bacillus Koch. Usually, TB affects the lungs; however it attacks other body parts as well. It is transmitted by air through saliva droplets emitted by coughing. The majority of infections that affect humans appear to be asymptomatic, that is, there is a latent infection. Approximately one out of ten dormant infections ultimately leads to active diseases and if these diseases are not treated, they kill more than 50 percent of the infected patients (Matos, et al., 2012).

The typical symptoms of tuberculosis include coughing wit blood tinged sputum, rarely high fever, loss of weight and night sweats. If other organs are infected they cause a wider range of symptoms. The diagnosis is highly dependent on radiology, skin test for tuberculosis, microscopic examinations and blood tests together with examination of microbiological culture of bodily fluids. The treatment of tuberculosis is not easy. It requires the intake of multiple antibiotics for a longer period of time. Antibiotic resistance is an emerging issue in dealing with the disease. The preventive measures depend on programs of screening and vaccination of bacille Calmette -Guérin. In order to develop insurance and prevention plan, it is important to research on the epidemiology of Tuberculosis. It is significant for of the use and application of the community-based health considerations, to obtain an idea of epidemiological aspects of Tuberculosis for effective prevention plan (CDC, 2011).

Epidemiology

Approximately one third of the population of whole world has been affected by tuberculosis and other new diseases that have diagnosed. On the other hand, all the infection of tuberculosis diseases and several infections are asymptomatic. In the year 2007, the studies estimated around 13.7 million chronically active cases and in the year 2010, 8.8 million new cases were identified. Furthermore, 2010 recorded 1.45 million deaths majorly in the merging states and around 0.35 million of these deaths were co-infected with other chronic infections like HIV. Tuberculosis is considered to be second most common reasons of death resulted from infectious diseases. The year 2002 had witnessed a declining number of new cases of tuberculosis and the absolute number of cases of Tuberculosis has been declining since 2005. A dramatic progress has been achieved by China with 80% decline in the mortality rate of Tuberculosis. The distribution of this disease is not same across the globe (Bock & Reichman, 2004).

Rate of Prevalence of Disease in Different Countries

According to the studies of W.H.O., approximately two billion people, or 1/3rd of the total population of this world has been exposed to the tuberculosis pathogen. Every year, 8 million individuals are diagnosed with tuberculosis, and 2 million die of the disease around the world (Barrios-Payán, et al., 2010):

Figure 1: Estimated HIV Co-infection in Persons Reported with TB. Source (CDC, 2011).

In the year 2005, it was analyzed that Swaziland was diagnosed with highest ...