Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases Health, Medicine Essay (Essay Sample)

Epidemiology of Tuberculosis
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Epidemiology of Tuberculosis
Introduction
Initially, tuberculoisis was rare in developed countries. However, cases of infections started rising in 1985, with one of the reasons being the emergence of HIV. This is because HIV weakens the victim’s immune system, making it impossible to fight the germs that cause tuberculosis. In the US, the existence of effective control programs led to TB decreasing in 1993, although it remains a major threat today (MacNeil, 2020). Further, medical researchers have established that many tuberculosis strands are drug-resistant to the drugs used for treating the disease. As such, individuals with the condition take different types of medications for several months so that they can successfully eradicate the infection as well as preventing possible cases of growing resistance to antibiotics. Globally, the prevalence race has increased, partly due to the social determinants. However, the role by nurses and WHO in fighting the disease helps in curbing the spread of the disease.
Description of the communicable disease
Causes
TB is primarily caused by bacteria, and the disease spread from one individual to another when one inhales droplets that are infected with the germs. This takes place in the event of an individual with active TB sneezing, laughing, coughing, or speaking near individuals who do not have the disease (MacNeil et al., 2019). Despite being contagious, TB is not a disease which is easily caught. For instance, it is difficult to catch it from a stranger at the workplace but easier to catch from a relative or someone with whom you are sharing a house.
Symptoms
An individual can have the TB bacteria in their body but without getting sick due to their immune system. As a result, doctors have distinguished TB into latent TB and active TB. Latent TB is inactive TB; although one has the bacteria in their body, they do not show any signs or symptoms. Its inactive nature also means that latent TB is not contagious (World Health Organization, 2020). However, it can easily advance to active TB, creating the need for patients to seek medical attention as soon as possible even when it is latent. Globally, around 2 billion people have the disease in latent condition.
On the other hand, active TB is the condition that makes one sick and it is easily spread from one person to the other. It take places during the first few weeks after one has been infected with the TB bacteria, althought it can also happen after several years (Goroh et al., 2020). It leads to one developing signs and symptoms such as; coughing blood, coughing which last long, chest pains or pains when coughing or breathing, fatigue, fever, unintentional weight loss, chills, night sweats, and appetitte loss.
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