Two people die every three minutes in the country due to Tuberculosis, adding 1.8 million new cases every year. A preventable, curable disease which should have been eradicated 50 years ago, has turned deadlier.One fifth of the world's tuberculosis cases are in India, a country that adds 1.8 million new TB patients every year. The disease claims 750 lives every day. The biggest danger at this point is the resurgence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.





Causes:

All cases of TB are passed from person to person via droplets. When someone with TB infection coughs, sneezes, or talks, tiny droplets of saliva or mucus are expelled into the air, which can be inhaled by another person.


Risk factors :

Research has shown that people with certain risk factors are more likely to develop tuberculosis. A risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of developing a disease.

Specific tuberculosis risk factors include:
 
Alcoholism
IV drug abuse
Crowded living conditions
Homelessness
Poverty
Immigration from certain countries
Low body weight
Certain medical treatments (such as corticosteroid treatment or organ transplants)


Treatment:

Antibiotics are used to treat TB, since it's a bacterial infection. You may be hospitalized or told to avoid contact with other people until tests show that you're not contagious.