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Tuberculosis (TB) is a major infectious disease that occurs worldwide.
- TB is second only to HIV/AIDS for the number of individuals killed worldwide from a single agent.
- In 2013, 1.5 million died from TB and 9 million became ill
- The vast majority (>95%) of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries
Fortunately, public health and clinical measures have had some success.
- The estimated number of individuals annually become ill with TB is declining
- The TB death rate dropped 45% between 1990 and 2014
- An estimated 37 million lives were saved between 2000 and 2013 through diagnosis and treatment
Bottom line:
- Tuberculosis (TB) is a major killer worldwide.
- Treatments are available to treat both latent and active disease
- See: http://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/treatment/
- Good clinical awareness is key to disease identification
References
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/
http://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/treatment/