Handout #4 - TB - Questions

Question 1

Why was TB called consumption in the past?

Answer 1

The disease seemed to consume the individual. Their weight would drop dramatically as the disease progressed, and they’d die.

Question 2

Why is TB one of the big three?

Answer 2

We don’t develop natural immunity, and a large percent of global mortality is due to TB. Plus 1/3 of the world’s population has TB.

Question 3

Why do TB treatments result in failure?

Answer 3

Doctors, drugs and patients.

Question 4

What are vulnerable populations where TB is most common?

Answer 4

Injection drug users, homeless people, First Nations communities, the very poor, people without health benefits, prisoners, and immigrants.

Question 5

What is likely to happen if patients self medicate?

Answer 5

Most people are not likely to know what appropriate treatment protocol is, meaning patients might not get better and an increase in drug resistant TB.

Question 6

What is driving rates of TB in Eastern Europe?

Answer 6

Poverty, political conflict, exclusion and marginalization, attitudes and stigma, low levels of support, low levels of services for people who have HIV, and long prison terms.

Question 7

What is the estimated number of MDR TB cases?

Answer 7

At least 3 hundred thousand cases (5 times as much as is reported).