EpidemicsCanada launches TB website to stem spread of disease
Researchers at Canada’s McGill University recently launched a free website to help doctors around the world stem the spread of tuberculosis (TB); the website offers detailed information on TB vaccinations in over 180 countries; while TB levels are at all-time lows in Canada and the United States, TB has grown increasingly prevalent around the world particularly in Africa and India; in India, there are nearly two million new cases of TB each year and it is the leading cause of death among people between the ages of fifteen and forty-five; the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Studies recently warned that up to ten million people could die of TB by 2015; if detected early, TB can be treated with antibiotics
Researchers at Canada’s McGill University recently launched a free website to help doctors around the world stem the spread of tuberculosis (TB).
The website, called the BCG World Atlas, offers detailed information on TB vaccinations in over 180 countries. Vaccination practices and disease strains vary widely across the world and the site is designed to make public health officials and doctors aware of the differences in policies and how they have affected populations.
Researchers said that this database will help foreign-born adults who may be susceptible to TB as they were vaccinated as children and may not have immunization records to indicate their current level of protection.
BCG World Atlas focuses particularly on the Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine that was first introduced in 1921 and continues to be the primary vaccine used to prevent TB.
While TB levels are at all-time lows in Canada and the United States, TB has grown increasingly prevalent around the world particularly in Africa and India.
The government of Swaziland recently declared TB a national emergency. Swaziland has one of the highest rates of TB infection in the world — one in every hundred people becomes infected with the disease each year.
Swaziland’s prime minister Sibusiso Dlamini said, “TB has proven to be a formidable adversary. It is very much a moving target, not least through the emergence of new drug-resistant strains as well as through its close link with HIV. But we are committed to developing strategies to control the TB epidemic while improving our case detection and treatment success rates.”
Meanwhile in India, there are nearly two million new cases of TB each year and every day a thousand people die of the disease. It is the leading cause of death among people between the ages of fifteen and forty-five.
In western nations like England, TB has made a startling resurgence. Last year UK health officials noted that TB infections had reached a thirty year high.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Studies recently warned that up to ten million people could die of TB by 2015.
Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar, the head of TB surveillance at the UK Health Protection Agency, said, “We are concerned to see cases of TB at their highest levels since the 1970s. TB is a preventable and treatable condition but, if left untreated, can be life threatening.” He added, “The key to reducing levels of TB is early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.”
Confounding efforts to combat TB infections are deadly drug-resistant strains of the disease.
These strains primarily arise from poorly managed TB care and are essentially untreatable, leading to high mortality rates, especially among populations with high HIV rates like Africa.
TB is a bacterial infection that can spread to the lungs, resulting in a thick cough that can expel blood, difficulty breathing, and fatigue.
Once infected, the disease is highly transmittable as it is spread by coughing or sneezing.
If detected early TB can be treated with antibiotics.
Foreign-born people were eleven times as likely to have TB as those born in the United States.
