TUBERCULOSIS
DEFINITION:
TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis; a rod-shaped aerobic bacterium that is resistant to destruction and can persist in necrotic and calcified lesions for prolonged periods and remain capable of reinstating growth. It is also called Koch’s disease after the scientist Robert Koch. In the past, tuberculosis has been called consumption, because it seemed to consume people from within, with a bloody cough, fever, pallor, and long relentless wasting.
Other mycobacteria such as Mycobacterium bovis, aerobic bacterium and the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle), Mycobacterium africanum that is most commonly found in West African countries, Mycobacterium canetti which formed smooth and shiny colonies, that is highly exceptional for this species; the natural reservoir, host range, and mode of transmission of the organism are still unknown and Mycobacterium microti also known as the “Vole bacillus”. The cause of naturally acquired generalized tuberculosis in voles (a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, and smaller ears and eyes)
It usually attacks the lungs (as pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the skin.
INCIDENCE:
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the largest number of new TB cases in 2005 occurred in the South-East Asia Region, which accounted for 34% of incident cases globally. However, the estimated incidence rate in sub-Saharan Africa is nearly twice that of the South-East Asia Region, at nearly 350 cases per 100 000 population.
It is estimated that 1.6 million deaths resulted from TB in 2005. Both the highest number of deaths and the highest mortality per capita are in...