Tuberculosis

By: Kelly Doyle

With the first outbreak recorded nearly 9,000 years ago, Tuberculosis has become known for being one of the most fatal diseases in history. For being around as long as it has, and having claimed the lives of 1.8 million of the reported 10.4 million people diagnosed in 2015, you would think that Tuberculosis would be a thoroughly vaccinated disease, right? However, this is not the case, especially in the United States of America.

There is a vaccination for Tuberculosis, known as Bacille Calmette Guercin (BCG), and it is often given to infants and children as they are most susceptible to the disease. According to CDC.gov, the vaccine is rarely used in the US (3). The vaccine should not only enter the US, but should be more widely used in other places too. Recent strains of Extensively Drug Resistent Tuberculosis (XDR TB) have been reported in South Africa, caused by cases of Tuberculosis that were left untreated. According to MedicineNet.com, if many of the victims of XDR TB had been vaccinated with BCG as children, they may have never contracted Tuberculosis in the first place. This would have prevented it from turning into XDR TB, which led to their death (2).

According to STAT Online, XDR TB has become a major disease outbreak in areas of South Africa, and although there have been few reported cases of XDR TB in the US (less than 5 reported cases a year), this disease is majorly fatal. Like all other diseases, XDR TB can spread and multiply until there is an extensive outbreak killing thousands. The most alarming part of this strain is that it is spread through direct contact and interactions, meaning that the disease is extremely easy to spread (1). Those mainly affected by Tuberculosis include residents of low and middle income countries. Although, the disease is possible to infect residents of any country, and there have been many reportedly fatal cases in the US alone. Unfortunately, leaders are currently taking little to no action to do anything for this disease which is evident in the fact that the vaccine has yet to enter the US. If all infants and children were given this vaccination, in all countries across the world this could finally put an end to this unnecessarily fatal disease.

Resources:

Branswell, Helen. "Spread of Highly Drug-resistant Tuberculosis Sparks Concerns." STAT. STAT, 19 Jan. 2017. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.
"Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB) Symptoms, Treatment, Causes - Who Is at Risk for Getting XDR TB?" MedicineNet. MedicineNet Inc, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017
"Tuberculosis Vaccines." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Mar. 2016. Web. 28 Feb. 2017

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