HALT Tuberculosis

WHO headline reads:

World Tuberculosis Day, held annually on 24 March, commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch presented his discovery of the TB bacillus to a group of doctors in Berlin. This year, World TB Day will focus on the efforts of frontline TB care providers and their crucial role in stopping TB.

Wegambians provides some in-depth info...

When TB multiplies enough and flares up in a patient, 75% of the cases are of a pulmonary (lung related) nature. Symptoms vary from constant chest pain to a persistent cough for over 3 weeks sometimes including blood, also swollen eyes, fevers, night sweats, chills, weight loss, and the ability to get fatigued easily.

Gone are the days when tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacilli) multiply by 1 infection per second. But it is undeniable that million lives are still at stake without a better cure.

According to statistics, 1.5 million people die of TB each year. Today, World TB Day, volunteers and other medical organizations strive to lessen, if not eliminate the disease by making the public knowledgeable about the epidemic as well as its prevention.