TB Enacts a Terrible Toll

Introduction: A Terrible Toll

Tuberculosis (TB) is an old disease but one that still ranks among the foremost killers of the 21st century. Every second of every day, someone is newly infected with the bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb ), that causes TB. About one-third of the world’s population is infected with M. tb , and as many as two million people die of the disease each year. TB kills more people than any other disease caused by a single infectious agent. Among people with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis is the leading cause of death. The highest rates of TB are in some of the world’s poorest countries, and the economic toll taken by the disease is enormous. Left unchecked, infectious disease can sow the seeds of political upheaval and threatens to reverse progress made by developing countries in recent decades. As for the toll in lives shortened, children orphaned, and communities weakened, the cost is inestimable.