ARIAtlas.org

Global Impact TB causes nearly two million deaths a year, making it the world’s seventh most common cause of mortality. More than two billion people are currently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and ten percent of them will develop active TB symptoms over their lifetimes. Though TB is not a classic ARI, the symptoms and drivers are similar, as are some of the effective interventions.

Global Impact First-line therapies to cure TB can cost as little as US$20 per person—but if the disease becomes resistant to those drugs, treatment costs can rise to US$5,000 or more. (A recent Kenyan study reported per-person costs of US$21,000.)

Global Impact Five percent of the global TB caseload is now resistant to multiple antibiotics, and in some republics of the former Soviet Union, multidrug-resistant TB accounted for more than one-fifth of all new TB cases in In 2008, 1.4 million people living with HIV had active TB. HIV-positive people are more likely to become infected with TB, more likely to have treatment-resistant forms of the disease, and more likely to die of it.

Twenty-two countries incur 80 percent of all TB cases. Percent of Fatalities among RSV Cases Source: ARIAtlas.org, World Lung Foundation 2010

Directly observed therapy, short course, or DOTS, cures most TB in high-burden countries— but only about two-thirds of active cases are ever detected. Source: ARIAtlas.org, World Lung Foundation 2010

Actions That Make a Difference More funds need to be spent on diagnostic tools to ensure that active TB infection is recognized quickly. An uninterrupted drug supply is also essential to full and prompt treatment.

Actions That Make a Difference Health care systems should provide directly observed therapy, short course, in which drugs are administered to infected patients under supervision. DOTS has an 85 percent success rate, and expansion is essential to ensure that patients complete their drug regimens.

Actions That Make a Difference More research is needed to develop new pharmaceuticals that work against the growing problem of multidrug-resistant TB. Health care priorities for the HIV-infected population with TB are drugs to prevent latent infection from becoming active, screening of at-risk individuals, and an emphasis on infection control to limit the spread.