With the coronavirus pandemic taking up all the attention in the news, other diseases become overshadowed. However, this past week, on March 24th was World Tuberculosis Day. March 24th is significant to tuberculosis because this the day that Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB in 1882. The purpose of World TB day is to raise awareness for the disease and try to stop the disease for good. TB is the deadliest infectious disease killer in the world today, it kills more than 4,000 people every day. That is very interesting to me, I had no idea that TB was such a problem today and killed so many people, I rarely hear about it in the news. I think it is great that WHO recognizes World TB Day so that people such as myself can learn more about the disease.
Recently, 5 employees at a Michigan wildlife disease lab were diagnosed with TB. The workers likely contracted the disease from the deer they were researching, who had bovine TB. The workers who contracted the disease have been undergoing antibiotic treatment for the last few months to fight the disease. The lab is still trying to figure out exactly how the workers were infected with TB, there were no documented incidents or mistakes that could help pinpoint how it happened. The workers were only diagnosed with latent TB; this is good because only about 5-10% of latent TB infections ever become active. This case is a perfect example of why lab safety is important. If you are working with diseases or animals that may carry diseases, you have to wear proper PPE and follow protocol to protect yourself.
In honor of World TB day, the WHO released new recommendations to help prevent TB. Among the new guidelines, they recommend an uptick in preventative treatment for at-risk populations such as people with HIV or compromised immunity. They also recommend a new type of tuberculin skin test be implemented in order to test for TB. This tuberculin skin test is likely to help those in need of TB preventative treatment and this test is easily accessible. I think it is great that the WHO releases these new guidelines every year on World TB Day in order to help people fight this disease. If you keep people informed, they will be better prepared to fight infection and eventually we can stop TB for good.
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