Wellness Tips: Tuberculosis
Learn more about today’s wellness tips topic; should tuberculosis be a cause for concern?
Today’s wellness tips topic; is tuberculosis becoming a public health concern? Tuberculosis or TB was once considered to be a serious health threat. Many believe that TB is a disease of the past. However, tuberculosis is still the leading killer of young adults worldwide making tuberculosis hardly a disease of the past. Tuberculosis has emerged once again as a serious public health dilemma in the U.S.
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This bacteria may infect any part of the body but prefers to infect the lungs. When an infected individual sneezes, talks, or coughs, the tuberculosis bacteria are spread through airborne droplets. However, prolonged exposure to the infected individual must occur before you may become infected.
Why is tuberculosis a pandemic threat? Improved public health programs have helped to create a steady decline of tuberculosis cases in the United States but the problem is far from solved. Factors that are contributing to the spread of tuberculosis in the U.S. and elsewhere include:
- the increase in number of foreign born nationals
- crowded living conditions
- increase in drug resistant strains of tuberculosis
- lack of access to medical care
- and the increase in poverty
Wellness tips encourages you to be aware of public health concerns in the U.S. as well in other parts of the world.
by Kristy Haugen
