HEALTH: What You Need To Know About Tuberculosis | READ DETAILS
Thompson Nsisongabasi
Mar 25, 2022
HEALTH: What You Need To Know About Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis may have been overtaken by COVID-19 as the world's deadliest infectious disease, but it continues to defy vaccines and antibiotics to wreak a grim global toll.
READ ALSO: Troops Record Success As ISWAP/BokoHaram Top Commanders, Fighters, Neutralized In Borno
Here are five things to know about an infection that has scourged the world for tens of thousands of years, ahead of World Tuberculosis Day on Thursday.
- 40,000 years old -
READ ALSO: B0-OM: Ondo Varsity Issue Severe Penalty For Indecent Dressing | DETAILS
TB first emerged around 40,000 years ago, according to genetic studies.
For a long time, scientists believed that tuberculosis in humans came from TB in cattle and that it had been transmitted when livestock farming started in the Neolithic Age.
READ ALSO: Three ministers test positive for Coronavirus
But recent studies paint a different picture, showing that TB already existed in humans before they started to raise cattle. Traces of the illness have been discovered in human remains that are around 11,000 years old.
READ ALSO: How a Nigerian Professor's AI System Could Predict Depression Before Symptoms Emerge
- 100 years ago: A vaccine -
READ ALSO: Jim Iyke Sparks Outrage: "Doctors Are Trained Not to Heal - Sickness Is Their BusinessÔÇØ
World TB Day is marked each year on March 24, the anniversary of the announcement of the discovery of the bacillus in 1882 by Nobel laureate Robert Koch of Germany.
READ ALSO: WATCH VIDEO: Bandits Attack Commercial Bus, Abduct Passengers In Kogi
It was, however, only in 1921 that France's legendary Pasteur Institute developed the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine, which became one of the world's oldest and most trusted jabs.
READ ALSO: B00M: The Stability, Instability Of Libya Will Affect Nigeria - Buhari | SEE DETAILS
A century on, the vaccine is still in use and is particularly effective in preventing tuberculosis in children, but results are variable in adults.
READ ALSO: REVEALED: How Common House Rats Can Kill - Shocking Truth Behind Silent Deaths in Nigerian Homes
- Antibiotics not very effective -
In the 1940s and 1950s, the discovery of streptomycin and other antibiotics made it possible to treat pulmonary TB, the most common form of the disease amongst adults and teens.
READ ALSO: How Troops killed 5 bandits, rescue 18 kidnap victims
But drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis emerged, forcing doctors to use antibiotic cocktails to efficiently muzzle the bacteria and to apply their treatment over several months.
READ ALSO: Troops Record Success As ISWAP/BokoHaram Top Commanders, Fighters, Neutralized In Borno
Some strains are resistant to several TB drugs, forcing the use of alternative treatments for many months and leading in some cases to therapeutic failures.
- Second-biggest killer -
READ ALSO: B0-OM: Ondo Varsity Issue Severe Penalty For Indecent Dressing | DETAILS
TB was the world's second-deadliest infectious disease after Covid-19 in 2020 (the latest year for which figures are available), accounting for 1.5 million deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Covid killed more than 1.8 million people that year, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
READ ALSO: Three ministers test positive for Coronavirus
Before Covid emerged, TB had occupied the top spot, claiming more lives than HIV/AIDS, which cost 680,000 lives in 2020 according to UNAIDS.
READ ALSO: How a Nigerian Professor's AI System Could Predict Depression Before Symptoms Emerge
TB is also a major cause of death amongst people living with HIV.
READ ALSO: Jim Iyke Sparks Outrage: "Doctors Are Trained Not to Heal - Sickness Is Their BusinessÔÇØ
Disruptions in access to healthcare because of the Covid pandemic have erased years of progress toward tackling the curable disease.
READ ALSO: WATCH VIDEO: Bandits Attack Commercial Bus, Abduct Passengers In Kogi
As a result, TB is on the rise again globally, with the number of deaths rising by seven percent in 2020.
READ ALSO: B00M: The Stability, Instability Of Libya Will Affect Nigeria - Buhari | SEE DETAILS
- On five continents -
READ ALSO: REVEALED: How Common House Rats Can Kill - Shocking Truth Behind Silent Deaths in Nigerian Homes
TB is present on all five continents, but developing countries are disproportionately affected.
In 2020, two regions accounted for the biggest number of new cases: southeast Asia recorded 43 percent of the new cases and Africa 25 percent, according to the WHO.
READ ALSO: How Troops killed 5 bandits, rescue 18 kidnap victims
Two-thirds of the cases were concentrated in eight countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa.
Related Stories
How Nonchalant Attitude at Federal Medical Centre Umuahia Is Turning Accident Victims Into Casualties - Shocking Findings Emerge
How a Nigerian Professor's AI System Could Predict Depression Before Symptoms Emerge
Jim Iyke Sparks Outrage: "Doctors Are Trained Not to Heal - Sickness Is Their BusinessÔÇØ
Why Nigeria Must Declare a State of Emergency on Malaria - Hon. Amobi Ogah Reveals at National Retreat
'Buhari Died In London Hospital After Promising Nigerians Quality Healthcare' - Activist Adetoun Attacks Late Ex President
REVEALED: How Common House Rats Can Kill - Shocking Truth Behind Silent Deaths in Nigerian Homes
""
— Thompson Nsisongabasi