TUBERCULOSIS (TB) IS one of the re-emerging
infectious diseases and the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that an effective vaccine against this condition is urgently needed.
The BCG vaccine, which is routinely administered in Jamaica and other countries, offers only limited protection against childhood forms of the disease but the WHO, in the State of the World's Vaccine and Immunisation, indicates that the immunity offered by this vaccine is believed to wane during
adolescence.
TB is caused by the
bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis, first identified
in 1882. In pulmonary
tuberculosis, formerly called consumption, the bacillus is inhaled in the lungs where it sets up a primary tubercle and spreads to the nearest lymph node. Symptoms of the active disease include fever, night sweats, weight loss and
spitting blood.
Though TB was thought to be under control, there has been a global re-emergence of the condition as a result of the increase in the co-infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Growing
resistance to anti-TB drugs has also been contributing to the re-emergence of TB.
The WHO notes that between 1997 and 2000 there was a nine per cent increase in the number of TB cases - up from eight million to 8.7 million. During 2000, there were 1.7 million deaths from TB. It is further estimated that almost one-third of the world's population (about two billion people) have latent TB infection; about five per cent of people will develop TB at some point.
However, people co-infected with HIV and TB have an estimated 10 per cent
annual risk of developing the
disease, which is a major cause of death among people with HIV/AIDS.
