Quarter of the World's Population At Risk Of Tuberculosis

London: A quarter of the world's population has a high risk of developing tuberculosis; a new study reveals.
The study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, shows that one in four people in the world carries tuberculosis bacteria in the body.
Tuberculosis, which is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, affects more than 10 million people every year and kills up to 2 million, which makes it the deadliest of infectious diseases. In addition, several people are infected with the tuberculosis bacteria without having an active disease called latent tuberculosis.
The study, which is based on evidence from 351,811 individuals, emphasizes that it will be extremely difficult to achieve the WHO goal of eliminating tuberculosis by 2035.
"In any case, the goal cannot be achieved without treating the high incidence of latent tuberculosis, since all infected people are at risk of developing active tuberculosis disease later in life," said Christian Wejse, associate professor of Aarhus University, Denmark.
For the study, researchers from Denmark and Sweden reviewed 88 scientific studies from 36 different countries to describe the occurrence of latent tuberculosis infection.
The study indicates that between a fifth and a quarter of the population has latent tuberculosis.

By: Preeti Narula
Content: https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/quarter-of-global-population-at-tuberculosis-risk-study/70512093