10 facts abouttuberculosis

T h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l U n i o n A g a i n s t Tu b e r c u l o s i s a n d L u n g D i s e a s e68, boulevard Saint-Michel, 75006 Paris, France union@iuatld.org http://www.iuatld.org tel: (+33) 1 44.32.03.60 fax: (+33) 1 43.29.90.87

● Almost 2 million people died of tuberculosis in 2000.

● More than 8 million people become sick with TB each year.

● One-third of the world's population is currently infected with the TB bacillus.

● TB kills more youth and adults than any other infectious disease.

● Someone gets sick from TB every 4 seconds.

● Someone dies of TB every 10 seconds.

● TB is a contagious disease but only people that are sick with pulmonarytuberculosis are infectious.

● Like the common cold, TB spreads through the air when infectious people cough,spit, talk or sneeze.

● Left untreated, a person with active TB can infect between 10 and 15 people everyyear.

● TB usually kills a person by gradually eating holes in the lungs.

Source: TB Advocacy, A Practical Guide 1999, WHO Global Tuberculosis ProgrammeWHO Fact sheet N° 104, August 2002