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World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2022: Know About TB, Its Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, And Key Facts

World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2022: It is observed on March 24 every year to raise awareness about the world's deadliest infectious killer, TB. This year's theme is "Invest to End TB. Save Lives. " The day commemorates the date when, in 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery regarding Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is the bacillus that causes tuberculosis (TB). Read on to learn more about tuberculosis, its symptoms, treatment, how it is caused, vaccines, and so on.

What is Tuberculosis (TB)?

It is a serious infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs and is caused by a bacterium known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. According to the CDC, the bacteria mainly attacks the lungs, but TB bacteria can attack any part of the body, including the kidney, spine, and brain. Also, not everyone infected with the bacteria that causes TB becomes sick. Tuberculosis bacteria can spread from person to person via tiny droplets released into the air through coughs and sneezes. 

There are two TB-related conditions that exist, namely latent TB infection (LTB) and TB disease. If the disease is not treated properly, it can be fatal.

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World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2022: Know how TB spreads

The bacteria that cause TB spreads from one person to another. When a person coughs, sneezes, speaks, or sings, the bacteria of Tb enters the air, and when people nearby breathe, it may enter the body and infect the person. It is a myth that TB is spread via shaking someone's hand, sharing food or drink, touching bed linens or toilet seats, sharing toothbrushes, kissing, etc.

When a person breathes in TB bacteria, the bacteria settle into the lungs and begin to grow. And from there, it moves to other parts of the body through blood. Tuberculosis (TB) in the lungs or throat can be contagious. That is, it can spread to other people. But TB in other parts of the body, like the kidneys or spine, is mainly non-infectious. Most likely, people with TB disease spread it to people when they spend time with them every day, and these people may be family members, friends, schoolmates, etc.

Tuberculosis (TB): Symptoms

Coughing for three or more weeks

Coughing up blood or mucus

Pain in Chest, or pain with breathing or coughing

Unintentional weight loss

Fatigue

Fever

Sweating at night

Chills

No appetite, etc.

Also, TB disease symptoms in other parts of the body depend upon the area that is affected. And people suffering from latent TB infection do not feel sick or do not have any symptoms, so they cannot spread TB to others.

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Tuberculosis (TB): Risk Factors

There are certain factors that can increase the risk including;

Weakened immune system

HIV/AIDS

Diabetes

Severe kidney disease

Certain cancers

Cancer treatment, like chemotherapy

Drugs to prevent rejection of transplanted organs

Some drugs that are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, and psoriasis

Malnutrition or low body weight

Very young or advanced age, etc.

Risk of getting infectious increases when a person travels to areas with high tuberculosis rates like; Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Latin America.

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World Tuberculosis (TB) Day 2022: Prevention for TB

If people have latent TB infection and are in high-risk groups, then they should take TB medication. Some measures that can be followed that help family and friends avoid getting sick include:

Stay home.

Cover mouth.

Ventilate the room.

Put on a face mask.

It is important to finish the proper medication. But if a person stops treatment early or skips doses, then it is believed that bacteria from TB may have a chance to develop mutations that will allow them to survive the most potent TB drugs. Therefore, the resulting drug-resistant strains are deadlier and may be difficult to treat.

Tuberculosis (TB): Vaccination

Tuberculosis vaccination is provided to infants in countries where TB is more common. The vaccine is bacille Calmetter-Guerin (BCG). It is not widely used in the United States but is often given to infants and small children in other countries where TB is common. It is also said that BCG does not always protect people from getting TB. 

Source: cdc,who

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WHO Urges Immediate Investment Of Resources To Maintain Tuberculosis Care

On the occasion on World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, marked on 24 March, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for an urgent investment of resources to protect and maintain tuberculosis (TB) care and support services for people in need across regions and countries. TB remains the world's deadliest infectious disease, responsible for over 1 million people annually bringing devastating impacts on families and communities.

Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 79 million lives since 2000. However, the drastic and abrupt cuts in global health funding happening now are threatening to reverse these gains. Rising drug resistance especially across Europe and the ongoing conflicts across the Middle-East, Africa and Eastern Europe, are further exacerbating the situation for the most vulnerable.

Under the theme Yes! We Can End TB: Commit, Invest, Deliver, World Tuberculosis Day 2025 campaign highlights a rallying cry for urgency, and accountability and hope.

The huge gains the world has made against TB over the past 20 years are now at risk as cuts to funding start to disrupt access to services for prevention, screening, and treatment for people with TB. But we cannot give up on the concrete commitments that world leaders made at the UN General Assembly just 18 months ago to accelerate work to end TB. WHO is committed to working with all donors, partners and affected countries to mitigate the impact of funding cuts and find innovative solutions."

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

Funding: Threat to global TB efforts

Early reports to WHO reveal that severe disruptions in the TB response are seen across several of the highest-burden countries following the funding cuts. Countries in the WHO African Region are experiencing the greatest impact, followed by countries in the WHO South-East Asian and Western Pacific Regions. Twenty seven countries are facing crippling breakdowns in their TB response, with devastating consequences, such as:

Human resource shortages undermining service delivery;

Diagnostic services severely disrupted, delaying detection and treatment;

Data and surveillance systems collapsing, compromising disease tracking and management;

Community engagement efforts, including active case finding, screening, and contact tracing, deteriorating, leading to delayed diagnoses and increased transmission risks.

Nine countries report failing TB drug procurement and supply chains, jeopardizing treatment continuity and patient outcomes.

The 2025 funding cuts further exacerbate an already existing underfunding for global TB response. In 2023, only 26% of the US$22 billion annually needed for TB prevention and care was available, leaving a massive shortfall. TB research is in crisis, receiving just one-fifth of the US$5 billion annual target in 2022-severely delaying advancements in diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines. WHO is leading efforts to accelerate TB vaccine development through the TB Vaccine Accelerator Council, but progress remains at risk without urgent financial commitments.

Joint statement with civil society

In response to the urgent challenges threatening TB services worldwide, WHO's Director-General and Civil Society Task Force on Tuberculosis have issued a decisive statement. The joint statement released this week, demands immediate, coordinated efforts from governments, global health leaders, donors, and policymakers to prevent further disruptions. The statement outlines five critical priorities:

Addressing TB service disruptions urgently, ensuring responses match the crisis's scale;

Securing sustainable domestic funding, guaranteeing uninterrupted and equitable access to TB prevention and care;

Safeguarding essential TB services, including access to life-saving drugs, diagnostics, treatment and social protections, alongside cross-sector collaboration;

Establishing or revitalizing national collaboration platforms, fostering alliances among civil society, NGOs, donors, and professional societies to tackle challenges;

Enhancing monitoring and early warning systems to assess real-time impact and detect disruptions early.

"This urgent call is timely and underscores the necessity of swift, decisive action to sustain global TB progress and prevent setbacks that could cost lives," said Dr. Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO's Global Programme on TB and Lung Health. "Investing in ending TB is not only a moral imperative but also an economic necessity-every dollar spent on prevention and treatment yields an estimated US$43 in economic returns."

New guidance on TB and lung health

As one of the solutions to combating growing resource constraints, WHO is driving the integration of TB and lung health within primary healthcare as a sustainable solution. New technical guidance released by WHO outlines critical actions across the care continuum, focusing on prevention, early detection of TB and comorbidities, optimized management at first contact and improved patient follow-up. The guidance also promotes better use of existing health systems, addressing shared risk factors such as overcrowding, tobacco, undernutrition and environmental pollutants.

By tackling TB determinants alongside communicable and non-communicable diseases, lung conditions, and disabilities through a unified strategy, WHO aims to reinforce the global response and drive lasting improvements in health outcomes.

On World TB Day, WHO calls on everyone: individuals, communities, societies, donors and governments, to do their part to end TB. Without concerted action from all stakeholders, the TB response will be decimated, reversing decades of progress, putting millions of lives at risk and threatening health security.

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