Tuberculosis
Definition
Tuberculosis (pronounced too-BUR-kyoo-LOH-siss), or TB, is a contagious disease of the lungs that can spread to other parts of the body and may be fatal. TB is caused by a microorganism known as the tubercle bacillus, or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease can now be treated, cured, and prevented. However, scientists have never come closing to wiping it out and TB remains one of the most serious diseases worldwide.
Description
Some parts of the population are at higher risk of getting TB than others. For instance, tuberculosis is more common among elderly people. Typically, more than one-fourth of the TB cases reported in the United States occur among people above age sixty-five.
Elderly people are especially vulnerable for a number of reasons. First, the disease can take years to become active, so an older person may have gotten the disease earlier in life and only discovered it after it became active. Second, people who live in nursing homes and similar facilities are often in close contact with each other and the disease can spread more easily in such conditions. Third, the body's immune system becomes weaker as a person grows older and older people may find it more difficult to hold off an attack of the tubercle bacillus.
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