TB disease is curable. It is treated by standard 6 month course of 4 antibiotics. Common drugs include rifampicin and isoniazid. In some cases the TB bacteria does not respond to the standard drugs. In this case, the patient has drug-resistant TB. Treatment for drug-resistant TB is longer and more complex.
The course of TB drugs is provided to the patient with information, supervision and support by a health worker or trained volunteer. Without such support, treatment adherence can be difficult. If the treatment is not properly completed, the disease can become drug-resistant and can spread.
In the case of TB infection (where the patient is infected with TB bacteria but not ill), TB preventive treatment can be given to stop the onset of disease. This treatment uses the same drugs for a shorter time. Recent treatment options have shortened the duration to treatment to only 1 or 3 months, as compared to 6 months in the past.
Tuberculosis
TB is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and it most often affects the lungs. TB is spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit. A person needs to inhale only a few germs to become infected.
Every year, 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis (TB). Despite being a preventable and curable disease, 1.5 million people die from TB each year – making it the world’s top infectious killer.
TB is the leading cause of death of people with HIV and also a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance.
Most of the people who fall ill with TB live in low- and middle-income countries, but TB is present all over the world. About half of all people with TB can be found in 8 countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and South Africa.
About one-quarter of the world’s population is estimated to be infected by TB bacteria. Only 5-15% of these people will fall ill with active TB disease. The rest have TB infection but are not ill and cannot transmit the disease. Both TB infection and disease are curable using antibiotics.
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