Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis, is a long-standing illness that typically affects the lungs and has serious health consequences. It is also known as TB. One of the oldest diseases to affect humans, tuberculosis has put the lives of millions of people in grave danger over the years. Ancient Egypt, Greece, and India all have records of TB infection. Despite being discovered a number of years ago, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (MT) has survived for over 70,000 years and is still to blame for the deaths of millions of people worldwide. Despite recent developments in medical and healthcare technology, tuberculosis continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in many nations.

Types and transmission

Particles in the air can carry the TB bacteria from one person to another. Mycobacterium tuberculosis spreads throughout the area when a person with active TB coughs, speaks, or sings. There’s a good chance that someone who is breathing near an infected area will become ill. It’s important to remember that touching an infected person won’t spread TB. Highly contagious and more likely to spread the infection are pulmonary tuberculosis hosts who have positive smear tests. In his Nobel Lecture from 1905, Robert Koch stated that “Tuberculosis has been called plainly, and quite justly, a disease of accommodation.” He was trying to illustrate the idea that tuberculosis spreads within infected households. If there is increased public awareness of the importance of isolating the sick person, the spread of the disease can be slowed down.

The condition known as Extrapulmonary TB, or EPTB, is a variation of tuberculosis (TB), which primarily affects the lungs but can also affect the brain, kidneys, or spine. Although pulmonary TB is the most prevalent type, TB bacteria can spread through the bloodstream or lymphatic system and cause infections in other body parts. The Lymph Nodes, Genitourinary System, Skeletal System, and Central Nervous System are the other organ systems that could contract an infection.

The typical problem with the illness is that there are two types of TB infection: latent TB infection and active TB infection. The TB bacteria are present in the bodies of people who have latent TB infection, but they do not exhibit any TB symptoms. This means that although they are not currently diagnosed with active TB, they could do so in the future. One-fourth of the world’s population, according to recent estimates, has LTBI.

Latent TB infections cannot be transferred from one person to another

A thorough analysis of the latent tuberculosis infection suggests that governments and medical professionals everywhere should give priority to LTBI testing and treatment in order to meet the global TB elimination goals.

Inconsistencies and an increase in population

At the start of COVID-19, years of work and research to reduce TB worldwide went in the wrong direction. For the first time in more than ten years, TB deaths increased, according to a WHO news release from October 14, 2021. Due to COVID-19, TB services were disrupted, making it impossible for those who were infected to get immediate medical attention. As a result, there were more TB-related fatalities worldwide. The poor implementation of healthcare facilities after COVID is making things worse, even though COVID-19 was the initial contributing factor in the rise in deaths from TB.

Since the beginning of time, TB has been a threat to the general public’s health; however, progress in the diagnosis and treatment of the illness has been extremely slow, particularly in developing nations. HIV/AIDS co-infection is one of the main risk factors that has made TB a leading cause of death. After decades of decline, TB cases are now on the rise in many parts of the world, and it is critical that everyone works together to eradicate this infectious disease.

Millions of people die from tuberculosis each year, exposing humanity to unfavorable environmental conditions. To prevent transmission, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of the illness, and it is the duty of elected officials and those in charge of setting health policy to lead the charge and educate the populace. Only by working together, primary care providers, world governments, and the general public can reduce the global burden of tuberculosis.