On the 24th of March 1882, the bacterium that causes TB was discovered by Dr Robert Koch.
The discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis allowed for work towards a cure for the disease that killed one in seven people, in the US and Europe, at the time.
However, despite over 140 years of research, Tuberculosis remains the deadliest infectious disease on the planet.
According to the CDC:
“Until TB is eliminated, World TB Day won’t be a celebration. But it is a valuable opportunity to educate the public about the devastation caused by TB and how it can be stopped.”
Shef News spoke to Paul Sommerfeld, chair at the charity TB Alert, and executive trustee for TB Europe Coalition, about his 24 years of experience of volunteering in tuberculosis charity.
What is Tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis is an airborne disease that targets the lungs in 2/3rds of cases.
TB spreads similarly to how the common cold spreads, however, it requires a more prolonged exposure to catch the disease and once transmitted, it is far deadlier.
The main symptoms of tuberculosis are Coughing and weight loss.
Mr Sommerfeld said: “It’s original Victorian name was consumption as it caused you to get thinner until death”
How does it affect those in the UK?
Data from the governments TB annual report shows that although tuberculosis is rare in the UK, it is not a disease that only affects other countries, as many of us may assume.
There is an average of 4417 notifications of Tuberculosis in the UK annually, with 67 of these being in South Yorkshire.
Mr Sommerfeld said: “It’s classically a disease of poverty, it tends to affect Ethnic minorities, and people living rough”
Tuberculosis treatment is more than purely medical, and TB alert aims to provide day to day support for those taking ‘literally handfuls of pills a day for months’.
Mr Sommerfeld said that BCG, the vaccine used for TB, was invented over a century ago, and as a result is not terribly effective.
He felt that Tuberculosis can be made a rare disease but that it would require ‘determination and effort’.
He said: “when COVID happened, it effected the west, and as a result, a vaccine was quickly made.
“Tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious disease in the world, but everyone just yawns.”
What is happening Internationally to fight Tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis cases are dropping very slowly worldwide.
Last year there were fewer than three million reported cases across the globe, the first time ever the number has dropped this low.
A speech was held on the 23rd of march at the Houses of Commons to lay out what the UK needs to do to help fight Tuberculosis.
Mr Sommerfeld explained that the disease is fundamentally cureable, and urged the government to have very senior representation at the UN HIgh-Level Meeting on TB in september.
He also said that the government needs to increase the funding for TB support that was reduced due to the UK’s recent economic struggles.
TB Alert hopes that an increased community awareness surrounding Tuberculosis will allow for further breakthroughs and new tools to fight the disease, as the technique from the 1890s is still the primary form of diagnosis for TB.
