WHO has described TB as a major health issue in Europe which will worsen if appropriate measures are not put in place to control it.
Tuberculosis is the major cause of death from a single infection agent, thus, this characteristics makes it more deadly than HIV and AIDS.
Presently, there are 275000 new cases of TB, and around 77000 people are affected by the "super" strain of the virus.
The highest number of cases of drug resistance TB were also discovered in Europe, leading to fears it could spread all over the continent.
Tuberculosis is a communicable disease, once infected, the disease can go on to infect 10 - 15 more persons.
Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe said: "If we don't act immediately and decisively, the drug resistance forms of the disease will spread all over Europe.
Again, Dr Vytenis Adrivkaitis, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety in a statement said, "Even though tuberculosis is an ancient, preventable and curable disease, it still cause great harm and death to many people in the European Union and the world at large."
WHO is planning to get rid of TB by 2030. But it believes that we must be involved to make that a reality.
According Dr Jakab, "TB is preventable and curable, the time to take drastic action is now, to end TB by 2030."
No comments:
Post a Comment