Summary of Acheiving Stop Tb Partnership Goals
Summary of “Achieving STOP TB Partnership Goals”
The ultimate destruction of TB depends on the identification and treatment of all TB cases. Driving social factors such as poverty, immunosuppression, smoking, diabetes and poor health services make eradicating the current TB pandemic crucial in trying to control the epidemic. Current research has been focusing on early detection, treatment, and vaccination. The STOP TB Partnership was formed in May of 2000 by the World Health Assembly in efforts to reduce the number of people being infected by TB. However, “In 2006, the TB pandemic continued to kill 2 million people annually and was growing by 1% each year, despite the World Health Organization also known as WHO having declared it a ‘Global Emergency’ over a decade earlier.” The United Nations has even stated that the goal is to cut the number of TB deaths in half by the year 2015. This is a goal not so easily achieved considering the fact that an estimated 2 billion people are latently infected with tuberculosis worldwide. (Kupferschmidt 1)
Tuberculosis is caused from a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis is an obligate aerobe that grows in tissues with a high oxygenated content, such as the lungs. It is a slow growing bacteria that takes anywhere from 12 to 20 hours to generate. The cells are hydrophobic and have high lipid content in the cell wall and tend to clump together. TB is an airborne disease that is spread from person to person by coughing, sneezing, or speaking. Tuberculosis is diagnosed by a simple skin test that if positive will show a reaction to a small quantity of tuberculosis antigens. A positive confirmation can be made by a chest X-ray, and a microscopic examination of a sputum sample.
A new significant development in TB diagnosis has been found in Xpert MTB/RIF assay. The Xpert MTB/RIF is made to detect DNA sequences specific for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance by polymerase
The ultimate destruction of TB depends on the identification and treatment of all TB cases. Driving social factors such as poverty, immunosuppression, smoking, diabetes and poor health services make eradicating the current TB pandemic crucial in trying to control the epidemic. Current research has been focusing on early detection, treatment, and vaccination. The STOP TB Partnership was formed in May of 2000 by the World Health Assembly in efforts to reduce the number of people being infected by TB. However, “In 2006, the TB pandemic continued to kill 2 million people annually and was growing by 1% each year, despite the World Health Organization also known as WHO having declared it a ‘Global Emergency’ over a decade earlier.” The United Nations has even stated that the goal is to cut the number of TB deaths in half by the year 2015. This is a goal not so easily achieved considering the fact that an estimated 2 billion people are latently infected with tuberculosis worldwide. (Kupferschmidt 1)
Tuberculosis is caused from a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis is an obligate aerobe that grows in tissues with a high oxygenated content, such as the lungs. It is a slow growing bacteria that takes anywhere from 12 to 20 hours to generate. The cells are hydrophobic and have high lipid content in the cell wall and tend to clump together. TB is an airborne disease that is spread from person to person by coughing, sneezing, or speaking. Tuberculosis is diagnosed by a simple skin test that if positive will show a reaction to a small quantity of tuberculosis antigens. A positive confirmation can be made by a chest X-ray, and a microscopic examination of a sputum sample.
A new significant development in TB diagnosis has been found in Xpert MTB/RIF assay. The Xpert MTB/RIF is made to detect DNA sequences specific for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance by polymerase
Cited: Alimuddin Zumla, et al. "Achieving STOP TB Partnership Goals: Perspectives On Development Of New Diagnostics, Drugs And Vaccines For Tuberculosis." Tropical Medicine & International Health 16.7 (2011): 819-827. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. Alimuddin Zumla, et al. "Immunological Biomarkers Of Tuberculosis." Nature Reviews. Immunology 11.5 (2011): 343-354. MEDLINE with Full Text. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. Kupferschmidt, Kai. "Taking A New Shot At A TB Vaccine." Science 334.6062 (2011): 1488. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. “Tuberculosis” Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, 13 Mar. 2012 Web