Tuberculosis
Awareness to Action: Tuberculosis
World Tuberculosis Day is recognized annually on March 24 to commemorate the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Dr. Robert Koch in 1882. M. tuberculosis primarily affects the lungs but can affect other parts of the body, possibly resulting in the infectious bacterial disease known as tuberculosis (TB). TB is easily spread through the air from one person to another and remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers. Each day, nearly 4,000 individuals lose their lives to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. Although TB is present all over the world, it disproportionately affects those who live in low- and middle-income countries. Notre Dame faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences are working to track the pathogenesis of this disease and develop a vaccine that will aid in eliminating TB worldwide.
Learn more about tuberculosis and the work of Jeff Schorey, the George B. Craig Jr. Professor from the Department of Biological Sciences:
Take Action:
- Join the fight against TB! Become an informed citizen by visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) websites to find fact sheets, guidelines, and recent research.
- To curb the development of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (and other bacterial infections), only take antibiotics as prescribed to you by a medical professional. Learn more about antibiotic/antimicrobial resistance here.
Notre Dame Resources:
- Research demonstrates how immunotherapy may be effective for fighting TB
- Study: Tuberculosis survives by using host system against itself
- Tuberculosis research sheds light on disease-related protein
- Tuberculosis: The disease of antiquity
External Resources: