HEALTH : TB Shows Deadly Resurgence
Tuberculosis is resurging after decades of decline, killing nearly 3 million people worldwide annually and threatening to claim even more lives unless quick action is taken, health officials warned today.
The World Health Organization reported that progress against TB, a contagious disease of the lungs and other organs, has “come to an abrupt halt” in some industrial countries, including the United States. Furthermore, the number of reported TB cases has almost doubled in some east and central African nations over the last four or five years, WHO said.
Currently, about 8 million people annually develop new cases of TB. About 20 million people worldwide have active cases, and another 1.7 billion are carriers of TB bacteria.
“Countries with the highest rates of HIV (AIDS virus) infection and high numbers of TB carriers are recording explosive rates of TB,” said Dr. Arata Kochi of WHO, explaining that people whose immune systems are crippled by the AIDS virus are more susceptible to tuberculosis.
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