World TB Day is observed annually on March 24 to impart knowledge to people about tuberculosis (TB) and take necessary efforts to eliminate this disease. TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers. World TB Day is amongst the eleven official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO). TB is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis and people who are undernourished have a greater risk of developing this endemic disease. Meanwhile, on the occasion of World TB Day 2021, we bring you facts about tuberculosis.

World TB Day commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced to a small group of scientists at the University of Berlin's Institute of Hygiene that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis. The theme for this year is ‘The Clock is Ticking’, which conveys the message that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB made by global leaders. This theme is designed considering the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has put the end TB progress at risk. The aim of WHO is to diagnose and treat 40 million TB patients by 2022 which include 3.5 million children and 1.5 million people with drug-resistant TB. Let us look at facts about TB.

Facts About Tuberculosis

1. One-third of the world's population is currently infected with the TB bacillus.

2. Someone gets sick from TB every 4 seconds and someone dies of this disease every 10 seconds.

3. TB is a contagious disease but only people that are sick with pulmonary tuberculosis are infectious.

4. Like the common cold, TB is a contagious disease that spreads through the air when infectious people cough, spit, talk or sneeze.

5. TB usually kills a person by gradually eating holes in the lungs.

6. If an active TB patient is left untreated, 10-15 person can get affected from that person every year.

7. A TB patient faces the problem of poor appetite.

8. TB is a leading killer of people who have HIV.

9. TB treatment saved around 58 million lives globally between 2000 and 2018.

10. As per WHO report, TB incidents are falling about 2 per cent every year.

On World TB Day 2021, spread awareness about tuberculosis on social media platforms, so that people in your contacts learn more about this disease. Let's join hands and fight towards curbing this endemic disease.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 24, 2021 07:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).