cdc.gov on tb basic facts
this link is from cdc and can answer all your questions about tb
if you have tuberculosis and fail to take your treatment did you know that they can put you in jail to make sure you take your medicines
there was a story a few years ago where a lawyer developed tb and had two take multiple drugs to treat his disease
he took time off to travel to europe
on the way back he was arrested and confined to a jail to make sure he took his meds
yes
they legally can do it
whats tb or tuberculosis
its a bacteria infection known to infect the lungs
when you read about historical folks who died of consumption
well
consumption is the old word for tuberculosis lung infection
it can also cause meningitis and get get in the bones and in the abdomen
these famous people died from tuberculosis
andrew jackson
jane austen
george orwell
pocahontas
vivian leigh
henry david thoreau
james madison
dh lawrence
etc
the tb germ gets into your body and can stay dormant and can hang around in your body for years just waiting for an opportunity to take over
like getting old and your immune system gets suppressed
or
getting ill like with cancer or some illness or treatment that can suppress your immune system
eg donors for kidney transplants are tested for tb since it can live in the kidney
give a tb kidney to a recipient and when they are given the immune suppressing drugs to prevent rejection the tb can take over
we all when we started medical school were tested for tb
many of my classmates turned positive half way through medical school
they took a drug inh for 6 months to be sure and kill any hidden tb germs
i have been tested multiple times during my medical career
when you see those ultraviolet lights in hospitals doctors office airports
they are there to kill germs especially tb as it can float around in the air
now there is a blood test to test you that is more accurate than the old skin test
there are around 9000 cases of tb in the us each year
there are around 500 tb deaths a year in the us
1.5 million die in the world with tb every year
a new vaccine could prevent 50% of these deaths
it may be available in a few years
even if its given to folks with the tb germ inside their bodies it still seems to work against the latent tb germ
the worst country to get tb in is india as they have over 25% of the world cases
it costs the country a couple billion dollars a year
the germ tb
has killed a lot of famous folks
its still around us here in the us
it commonly takes a multidose regimen to treat it
certain populations are more susceptible like skid row type environments
and
all those immunosuppressed folks like transplant recipients and folks on drugs for asthma arthritis ulcerative colitis crohns disease cancer and more diseases
many folks are walking around with it in their lungs and dont know it since it is latent
so we have a vulnerable population here in the us
i can see the vaccine being given to those vulnerable groups here
we cant afford to take our eyes off this disease
or it can take off in our population like it did during the early days of our country
my facebook blog page link organicgreendoctor
the organicgreen doctor
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