| losis, a bacterial infection, most commonly affects the | | | | million people each year, TB kills 2 million, and malaria |
| lungs. Tuberculosis can also affect the central | | | | kills 1 million. |
| nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory | | | | Tuberculosis is caused by a slow-growing aerobic |
| system, genitourinary system, bones and joints. | | | | bacterium that divides every 16 to 20 hours. This |
| Often Called TB for short, tuberculosis is the most | | | | division is extremely slow when compared to other |
| common major infectious disease today. With that | | | | bacteria, which tend to have division times that are |
| title the virus is infecting two billion people which is | | | | measured in minutes. |
| approximately one-third of the world's population. Nine | | | | In many patients the infection of Tuberculosis waxes |
| million new cases of active disease annually, resulting | | | | and wanes. Treatment with appropriate antibiotics kills |
| in two million deaths. Most of these cases and deaths | | | | bacteria and allows healing to take place. Areas |
| are in developing countries. | | | | where Tuberculosis has affected will eventually be |
| Ninenty percent of those that are infected have | | | | replaced by scar tissue. A complete medical |
| asymptomatic latent TB infection (LTBI). This is alot | | | | evaluation for Tuberculosis includes a medical history, |
| of numbers: There is a ten percent chance that in | | | | a physical examination, a tuberculin skin test, a |
| the lifetime of LTBI that it will progress to active TB | | | | serological test, a chest X-ray, and microbiologic |
| disease. This active disease if left untreated, will kill | | | | smears and cultures. This is quite an extensive |
| more than fifty percent of its victims. All of these | | | | procedure as you can see, but if you look at the |
| numbers make tuberculosis one of the top three | | | | numbers above it is a necessary process. |
| infectious killing diseases in the world. HIV/AIDS kills 3 | | | | |