Speaking at a national conference on tuberculosis, held in the Northern Province of Gorgan, Lankarani said that the country’s TB rate has reached 1.3% in 2008 from over 10% in 1979.
“The disease’s annual incidence rate has reduced to 13 per 100,000 in 2008 from over 100 per 100,000 in 1979,” Lankarani said.
He added, “Based on written documents, it has been presented in humans for over 3000 years ago and based on researches it has been diagnosed for more than 4000 years.”
According to the studies, 10% of those infected with TB bacilli will become sick with the disease, the minister said, emphasizing that the sooner the disease is diagnosed, the easier it can be cured.
Describing HIV as the most important factor in making people more susceptible to TB infection, Lankarani said, “The incidence rate of TB’s co-infection with HIV in our country is about 2%, while the world’s average rate is nearly 8%.”
HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other's progress. HIV weakens the immune system. Someone who is HIV-positive and infected with TB bacilli is many times more likely to become sick with TB than someone who is HIV-negative, Lankarani explained.
Referring to the fact that the disease occurs more among those suffering from poor nutrition, he called for the improvement of the levels of nutrition among low-income folks.
“A total of 9,423 Iranians were diagnosed with TB over the past year,” he said adding that it is only 56% of the total rate of the country’s tuberculars.
“Two of our neighboring states are among the 22 countries with the highest incidence of TB,” Lankarani said stressing on the need for greater effort to control over the disease in the Islamic republic.
He also pointed out that the estimated rate of TB’s incidence in the world is 139 per 100,000, adding the average rate of its outbreak is 82 per 100,000.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which spread through the air.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 2 billion people—one third of the world's population—have been exposed to the tuberculosis pathogen. Annually, 8 million people become ill with tuberculosis, and 2 million people die from the disease worldwide. In 2004, around 14.6 million people had active TB disease with 9 million new cases.
In every second, someone in the world is newly infected with TB bacilli and 5-10% of people who are infected with TB bacilli become sick or infectious at some time during their life.
SN/HK
MNA
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