Informative Essay On Tuberculosis Research Papers

Tuberculosis (TB): A Worldwide Epidemic
Iliana Roller
Gateway Community College
DMI 222 – Advanced Radiographic Pathology

One third of the world’s population is infected with Tuberculosis (TB) making this disease one of the most serious global health problems existing today. TB is especially dangerous for people that have weaken immune systems and is one of the top leading causes of death worldwide; ranking alongside the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (World Health Organization (WHO), 2015). In 2014 alone, 9.6 million people around the world became sick with TB disease and there were 1.5 million related deaths from the disease (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2015). Although new reported cases of the TB disease
The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but TB bacteria can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine, and brain. If not properly treated, the disease can be fatal (CDC, 2015).
After much debate over the past century, it has recently been firmly established that tuberculosis existed in the New World before the arrival of Columbus. However, it still remains uncertain how or when, precisely, the infection reached the Americas, how it spread from one continent to the other, and whether the pre-Columbian infection was caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis (Mackowiak, 2005).
Dr. Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis, on March 24, 1882. During the time of this discovery, one out of seven people living in the United States were dying from TB. Dr. Koch’s discovery was the most important step taken toward the control and elimination of this deadly disease (CDC, 2015).
How TB is Spread/ not
Tuberculin Skin Test
The TB skin test (also called the Mantoux tuberculin skin test) is performed by injecting a small amount of fluid (called tuberculin) under the skin in the lower part of the arm. After 48 to 72 hours, a trained health care worker will look for a reaction on the arm. He or she will look for a raised, hard area or swelling, and if present, measure its size using a ruler. Redness by itself is not considered part of the reaction. If the health care worker determines the skin test to be positive, additional tests will be needed to determine if the person has latent TB infection or TB disease (CDC, 2015).
TB Blood Tests TB blood tests (also called interferon-gamma release assays or IGRAs) measure how the immune system reacts to the bacteria that cause TB. The person’s blood is tested in a lab and the IGRA measures the strength of the reaction between the immune system and the TB bacteria. Similar to the skin test, if the blood tests return positive, additional tests will be needed to determine if the person has latent TB infection or TB disease (CDC,