News

• Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that usually attack the lungs and are spread through the air when a person with the disease coughs or sneezes, much like the common cold

• About one-third of the world's population is infected with the bacilli

• Most carriers have "latent" or inactive TB, which means they are symptom free and not contagious; 5-10 per cent of patients become sick and contagious with the "active" form of the disease

• Symptoms include a cough, sometimes with blood or sputum, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats

• The WHO attributes 1.5-million deaths in 2006 alone to the disease

• The Public Health Agency of Canada reported 1,621 cases of new active and relapsed TB in 2006, an average of about five cases for every 100,000 people; First Nations and homeless communities are particularly vulnerable

• The most recent numbers from Statistics Canada suggest at least 70 people died across Canada in 2004 of TB-related causes

• Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are two of the world's TB hot spots

• People who are HIV-positive and infected with TB bacilli are much more likely to become sick. Without treatment, about 90 per cent will die within months of contracting TB. About a third of all people living with HIV/AIDS are co-infected with TB

• Treatment involves a six-month course of antibiotics, up to two years for multidrug-resistant strains

• Drug-resistant TB is caused by inconsistent or partial treatment with antibiotics

• Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most powerful anti-TB drugs. It's especially prevalent in the former Soviet Union.

• Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB is the most serious form of the disease

Compiled by Brodie Fenlon. Sources: World Health Organization, Canadian Lung Association, The Canadian Press