World TB Day

World TB Day, which is held on March 24th every year, commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of M. tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. His discovery paved the way for diagnosing and curing tuberculosis.

The goal of this day is to build public awareness of tuberculosis. TB is a serious problem and still remains an epidemic in much of the world today. According to the World Health Organization¹:

• 8.8 million people fell ill with TB in 2010, including 1.1 million cases among people with HIV.
• 1.4 million people died of TB in 2010, including 350,000 people with HIV, equal to 3,800 deaths a day.
• TB is contagious and spreads through the air. If not treated, each person with active TB disease infects on average 10 to 15 people each year.
• 1 in 10 people infected with TB will become sick with active TB in their lifetime.
• In 2010, there was an estimated prevalence of 650,000 cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), and in 2008 it was estimated there were 150,000 MDR TB deaths annually.

According to the Centers for Disease Control in the United States, 11,182 TB cases were reported in 2010². Ten to fifteen million people are infected with latent TB infection (LTBI).

• Since 2000, the pace of decline in the annual TB rate has slowed.
• Nineteen states reported increased TB case counts from 2009.
• 60% of all TB cases in the U.S. occurred in foreign-born persons.
• A total of 88 multidrug-resistant TB cases were reported in 2010.

According to the Institute of Medicine, "The ability to identify individuals who are truly infected with M. tuberculosis and who are at risk for disease will tremendously simplify the process of tuberculosis elimination in the United States. The search for more effective diagnostic methods has never been more important - particularly in the detection of latent TB.^³"

¹World Health Organization 2011 Tuberculosis Facts

²CDC. Reported Tuberculosis in the United States, 2010. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, October 2011

³Geiter L., "Ending Neglect: The elimination of Tuberculosis in the United States", 1st ed. Washington DC: National Academy Press 2000