Factors Affecting the Level of Awareness of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB); it typically infects the lungs but can spread into other organs as well. MTB lung infections are called pulmonary tuberculosis, the most common form of the disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), TB claimed an estimated 1.3 million lives in the year 2008 alone. Despite these grim statistics, the level of awareness of TB remains low in many at-risk populations.

Significance

• According to the WHO, more than one-third of the world's population is now infected with TB. The bulk of TB infections are latent, however, meaning that they can't be transmitted and don't manifest any symptoms, and the affected people remain unaware they have the germ inside their lungs. Only 5 to 10 percent of latent cases will develop into a full-fledged infection. In recent years, strains that are resistant to antibiotics have emerged in many countries; these strains pose a serious potential threat to public health. Raising awareness helps ensure that people know the symptoms of the disease and the steps they can take to reduce their risk of contracting it; increased awareness could also establish drug-resistant TB as an important priority for public spending on biomedical research.

Misconceptions

• According to the St. Charles County Health Department in Missouri, many citizens of industrialized nations underrate the threat posed by TB in part because they see it as a disease of the past. After the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s, the number of deaths from TB in the United States and Western European countries fell dramatically; this initial success may have fostered complacency about the disease among large sectors of the public. It is, however, a misconception that TB is no longer a public health concern. Given the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, the threat is if anything growing greater rather than diminishing.

Features

• Education is an important factor that seems to be correlated with the level of awareness of TB. A large-scale Chinese study published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease in 2009 compared survey respondents' knowledge of the disease, its symptoms and the resources available to patients. Respondents with a higher level of education displayed a greater level of awareness than those with less education; further, people in rural areas had a lower level of awareness as well. Another study in Pediatric Chest Medicine in 2005 found that educating high school students about TB and its symptoms could substantially improve public awareness.

Effects

• Some studies have found an insufficient level of awareness of pulmonary TB among health-care professionals—even those in at-risk areas. A 1998 study in India published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease found that a mere 10.7 percent of general hospital nurses could correctly answer 75 percent of the questions on a test covering correct diagnosis, treatment and causative factors for TB. The study concluded that additional training would help to resolve this problem.

Benefits

• World TB Day was an observance held on March 24, 2010; it was organized by the WHO and the Stop TB Partnership to help increase public awareness of TB. Other public-health departments in at-risk regions like the Philippines are working to educate the public as well.