Anything to do with Microbology Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anything to do with Microbology - Article Example Disease causes by this bacteria, tuberculosis is a major public health challenge and is currently in an epidemic state in several parts of the world. According to the World Health Organisation, 139 per 100,000 population through out the world suffer from tuberculosis. The highest number of cases are seen in Asia, followed by Africa. Two important contributing factors are human immunodeficiency virus and development of resistance of the bacteria to first line drugs. The main source of infection to the community are sputum positive pulmonary tuberculosis. Only 10 percent of individuals develop the clinical disease and the rest arrest the growth of the bacteria through adequate immune response. Some population-based studies have shown that some individuals are at increased risk of acquiring the infection when compared to others. Active transmission is mainly seen in crowded and household contacts. Acquisition is most common in young people. More than 85 percent of tuberculosis is pulmon ary tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is communicable and patients with pulmonary tuberculosis are the most important source of infection. When the tuberculosis bacillus presents in the body, it is phagocytosed by antigen presenting cells in the alveoli of human lungs. This initiates a protective immune response by the host. The genome of the bacillus helps in establishing latent or progressive infection in the host.