A PATTERN OF TUBERCULOSIS INFECTION AN OVERVIEW

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by pathogenic bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is an acid-fast bacillus (AFB), gram-positive, non-motile, aerobic organism. Each year millions of people became sick due to this disease. Beside this, it caused a huge number of deaths each year and hence is in the top 10 causes of death. In only 2007, 1.3 million people die due to TB. There are several diagnostic tools that can be employed to detect TB infection. This includes rapid molecular diagnostic tests, microscopic examination of sputum and culturing of an infectious agent. These methods have their own limitations and different strategies are employed to develop new tools. Besides this, different new approaches are urgently needed to develop efficient TB vaccine. Tuberculosis can be intervene at different points to develop efficient strategies. In this review, we try to summaries epidemiology of TB, different strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, vaccination for TB, different stages of Tuberculosis, intervening points, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and diagnostic strategies for TB.