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At present a lot of us are sure that tuberculosis (TB) has gone away; or it does not threaten us today. With the modern development of medicine, it is difficult to believe that this disease from the past causes deaths of many people even now. It is known from practice that a lot of viruses can mutate and are still very dangerous. Tuberculosis (TB) is considered to be one of the most dangerous illnesses in the world.
It has active and latent forms. According to the last data, among 9 million new cases of TB there are about 2 million deaths each year. During last years a lot of people in developed countries have been exposed to or infected with TB from persons with TB who were born in countries where TB is common, such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is known that tuberculosis spreads among homeless people, residents of long-term care facilities, in minorities and health care workers. (Lee, 2006) But the most risky group of people is people with HIV/AIDS. It is known that HIV weakens the immune system. Thats why a latent TB infection in these people will quickly develop into active TB.
According to the reports of many clinics, the major part of people living with AIDS dies from TB. The WHO (the World Health Organization) points that 80 percent of all active TB cases occur in just 22 countries, mostly in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Asia (Tuberculosis, 2002) Since the 1990 s, a lot of nations have been mobilizing their efforts against TB. For last years a number of people with TB disease has declined (in the United States from 14, 852 to 14, 517 persons for a year). But it is evident that the figure of people with TB is rather high. With the purpose to eliminate TB it is needed: to maintain control, to find better methods of identifying and treating latent TB, to improve methods of finding out at-risk populations, to develop better drugs for treatment TB of different types.
It is evident that if an effective TB vaccine is found it will save a lot of lives. And one of the most important ways is to engage in global TB prevention and control. (Lee, 2006) The USA is considered to be one of largest donor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The country spends about $ 326 million on TB programs. (Tuberculosis, 2002) Most of all, for the last years there is a threat of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB). MDR TB is drug resistance that can be a result of partial or inconsistent treatment. Patients with MDR TB should be treated with more effective drugs (that are very expensive and more toxic).
There is the way to prevent the development of drug resistance. It is the directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) strategy. DOTS programs incorporate political commitment and resources, laboratory diagnosis of infectious cases, a reliable supply of anti-TB drugs, drug treatment supervised by health or community workers, and monitoring of patient treatment and progress. (Tuberculosis, 2002) Many measures are taking nowadays to expand the system around the world. But, unfortunately, according to the data of the World Health Organization (WHO) TB will causes deaths of about 36 million people by 2020 if some measures cannot be taken immediately. The most problematic point is that it is difficult to determine the amount of people with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). With the purpose to identify clinics that provide TB treatment, a lot of actions actions have been made by governments and health care institutions all over the world.
Due to treatment of LTBI the number of patients have significantly decreased (in the United States about 4, 000 tuberculosis cases were prevented). (Weis, 2006) A lot of programs World Free of TB have been created. Health care specialists take part in the programs. They talk about the importance of TB evaluation and treatment in TV shows. They provide lectures for different people devoting to the problem of prevention and cure of TB. Most of all there are some educational meetings for immigrants who have come for temporary work. Health care specialists organize presentation on TB laboratory methods for medical staff.
All these measures help to raise awareness of the population about the international health threat of tuberculosis (TB). Thats why health care institutions closely color with governmental ones. (Weis, 2006) March 24 is considered to be World TB Day. It is the day when people from many countries talk about the problems of TB; how to cure and control it. It is evident that people should be educated about the devastation TB can spread and how it can be stopped. (Weis, 2006) Bibliography: Lee LM, Locate MN, Buskin SE, Morse A, Costa S. (2006). Low adherence to guidelines for preventing TB among persons with newly diagnosed HIV infection. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
Division of TB Elimination (DTBE). The USA, October, 2006, p. 209 - 214. Tuberculosis. (2002). US Department of Health and Human Services. Global health. Gov.
Retrieved 12 October from web Weis, Stephen. (2006). New Methods to Define TB Risk and Control Urban TB. Texas Department of State Health Services. Infectious Disease Control Unit, 14 July, 2006. Retrieved 12 October from web
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Research essay sample on World Health Organization Considered To Be One
