Tuberculosis and AIDS: two diseases, one response
Today is World TB Day, an excellent time to watch the following video (available at the World Health Organization YouTube channel):
You can read about the current state of the disease -- which kills almost two million people every year -- here: A world free of TB (Word Health Organization).
You can also watch a few more videos on the topic at Stop TB Partnership. I especially recommend two videos:
- Actions For Life - A flash film about the Global Plan to Stop TB
- The Human Face of TB, an informational flash film
I'll finish the post with some words written by Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General:"If the right action is not taken right now, the continuing spread of MDR-TB [multidrug-resistant tuberculosis] could transform a disease that is curable with affordable medicines into a costly and deadly epidemic. If the right action is not taken right now, the continuing rise of XDR-TB [extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis] could take the world back to the era that predates the development of antibiotics, with nothing in hand to guarantee treatment success."
"The microbial world has given us a clear either-or situation. Either we tackle the problem now with rational and proven approaches, or we pay later with an epidemic of an airborne disease that renders our modern-day medicines and straightforward treatment regimens obsolete. This would truly be a tragedy, on a huge and costly scale, that should not happen."
Related links:
- World TB Day. Twisted Bacteria, March 24th, 2008.
- An 'open source' approach to drug discovery. Twisted Bacteria, July 1st, 2008.
- Robert Koch y la tuberculosis. En Días Como Hoy, RTVE.es , 24 de marzo, 2010. [In Spanish] Se trata de un fragmento de un programa de radio (dos minutos y medio) en el que Nieves Concostrina nos recuerda, de forma amena, el momento en que el gran Robert Koch presentó al mundo la bacteria causante de esta enfermedad ("su bacilo").
