Whilst in the western world of More Economically Developed Countries the risk of contracting, and even more so dying, of TB is very small, but in some of the poorest parts of the world, the disease is still killing millions of people, and yet is known to be curable. The following map shows the rough distribution of the disease around the world today:
As you can see, whilst very few cases of TB occur in the more developed countries such as North America, Europe, and Australia, and bearing in mind that the vast majority of people contracting the disease in these areas should recover due to the medical facilities, areas such as Central Africa, Brazil, and much of East Asia still have very high rates of the disease, with many of these areas not having the money to pay for the medical care to cure people, hence many of the cases tragically resulting in death.
Symptoms of pulmonary TB include stuff like persistent cough (LIKE ME) which may bring up blood, signs of breathlessness, lack of appetite, fever, weight loss, and fatigue. In some cases of TB, the infection is not just confined to the lungs and spreads to other parts of the body, which is called Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis, and can lead to extra symptoms such as aches and pains in the areas to which it has spread, as well as things like diarrhoea, vomiting, and urinating blood.
Treatment for TB is taking antibiotics, with isonaizid and rifampicin being two commonly used examples. However, some strains of TB become drug resistant, which is very bad. The worst thing is that whilst it is generally curable, yet in poor areas they cannot afford the drugs to save people's lives from it once they get infected.
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