| TB - A Global Emergency |
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More people are dying of TB today than ever before. |
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TB kills 8,000 people a day - that is 2-3 million
people each year. It kills more people than either AIDS or malaria. In fact, TB is the
biggest killer of young people and adults in the world today. |
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One third of the world's population is infected with
TB. |
| Magnitude of TB in India |
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Estimated 3.5 million are sputum positive. |
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About 2.2 million new cases every year including about
1 million sputum positive. |
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0.5 million people in India die from TB every year,
more than 1000 every day (i.e. one every minute). |
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One sputum positive case can infect 10 - 15 healthy
individuals in one year. |
| TB and HIV |
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TB accounts for one third of AIDS deaths worldwide. It
is the biggest killer of people who are HIV-positive. |
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If you are HIV-positive, you are 30 times more likely
to get sick with TB once infected. |
| TB and women |
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TB is the single biggest killer of young women. |
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Over one million women may needlessly die from TB
this year. They are breadwinners, mothers, daughters and wives. |
| TB and children |
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Over 100,000 children may needlessly die
from TB this year. |
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Hundreds of thousands of children will become TB
orphans this year. |
| MDR - TB (Multidrug -
resistant TB) |
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Drug-resistance can develop when patients get the wrong
drugs, drug supply is unreliable or patients stop taking their medicines because they feel
better. |
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In countries that are poor, MDR-TB that cannot be
treated with standard medicines can be a death sentence. |
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MDR-TB is at least 100 times more expensive to cure. |
| Cost of TB |
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Eighty percent of TB victims are in the most
economically productive years of their lives. |
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TB sends many self-sustaining families into poverty. If
the breadwinner of a family is not properly diagnosed or treated, he or she will lose, on
average, a full year of work. |
TB has been a very dangerous disease according to an estimate TB KILLS more than all other diseases combined together.
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