March 24th was deemed World Tuberculosis day. Now, I’m not entirely sure why they would dedicate a whole day to a deathly disease, but hey, who am I to judge. Before microbiology class, the only reason I know what Tuberculosis is was because I learned about it in my 11th grade English class because Edgar Allan Poe’s family were victims of the disease. This led to his pain that many attribute to his success. So this horrible disease in which you basically cough up blood until you die is still a real problem, hence the day of dedication. Let’s talk about what’s going on in the world today and how we’re tackling it.
So, how do we deal with this problem? Our good ole friends at the CDC explain how vaccination, prevention, and treatment work. In the US, the vaccination is given out to everyone, and in fact is not very common. Countries where TB is a lot more present do, however, vaccinate many of their children. In the US, children who are exposed to those that have TB and have no other option but to be around the disease are vaccinated, as well as health care workers who work in areas where the disease is prominent. Since most of us are likely not vaccinated, there are preventative measures to take. Many people have a latent form of TB in which they will never be affected; however, those who are must be tested and put on antibiotics to prevent the disease from becoming active. As I mentioned before, other countries have a lot higher prevalence rate of the disease, and those that are traveling abroad, and this may go unsaid, but if there is a person known to be infected PLEASE avoid them. For those that do face the unfortunate circumstance in which they are effective, antibiotics are developed that can treat the disease but must be taken METICULOUSLY for up to 9 months. So, you know, if you can, just don’t get it.
You’ve heard me discuss antibiotic resistance before. Because TB has been around for so long, its development of antibiotic resistance is quite prevalent. A more serious problem that is emerging though, is multi-drug resistant TB. That means even the combined treatment of several drugs is starting to be less and less effective. A commentary from The Lancet discusses a possible response to this problem. The choice to preventatively combat the disease as a preventative method is being suggested. If the therapy doesn’t work, therapeutic drug monitoring may allow for more effective treatment by determining the ideal doses to further prevent developing resistance. Science is making great strides in the development of treating such combative diseases and by following the recommendations of health professionals, we may continue to improve our methods of treatment.
Landyn's Microbial World 