tuberculosisWhat is tuberculosis?Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria that can attack any part of the body, but particularly the lungs.
The disease commonly known as tuberculosis (TB) is caused by one species of Mycobacteria, called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Other members of the Mycobacterium have been found to infect people with compromised immune systems such as AIDS or cancer patients on chemotherapy. These organisms (Mycobacterium avium intracellulare, Mycobacterium kansasii), ordinarily pose no risk to normal individuals.
TB is an ancient disease that used to be widely feared throughout the world, accounting for large numbers of deaths and chronically ill persons. In part, this is because TB thrives and spreads best in crowded conditions among people with weakened resistance, conditions often found among the poor. After several decades of declining incidence, the number of new cases of TB rose in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Even though the last seven years has seen steadily declining rates of TB infection, there are still an estimated 10 to 15 million Americans infected with the TB bacteria, who have the potential to develop active disease in the future. In addition, the development of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), which is a strain of TB that is resistant to standard drug therapies, is increasing in certain parts of the world and continues to be a concern in the United States and Canada. Despite declining rates, TB is still a major concern to public health officials. Populations at high-risk for TB include prisoners, indigents, recent immigrants, institutionalized patients, AIDS patients, and those living in congested urban areas where there is poor social conditions. Fire fighters and EMS personnel are routinely exposed to all of these populations. In the IAFF 1998 Death and Injury Survey, tuberculosis exposures accounted for 29.8% of all communicable disease exposures. Learn More
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