Let’s raise some awareness folks
It seems that COVID-19 is out competing TB for attention. World TB day was March 24th and it didn’t get a very big acknowledgement. I didn’t see anything on the media about the disease that’s killed more than COVID-19 and continues to be a growing issue, even if it appears to be a thing of the past in the US. Worldwide, TB is one of the top 10 leading causes of death even though it is curable and preventable. This just increases the importance of raising awareness of this disease.
But the good news is that scientists have not forgotten about TB even if the mainstream media has. According to SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory researchers have discovered a huge pocket in a transporter protein that’s important in the development of TB, something that has never been seen before. New findings like this are always exciting in the scientific world because the better we get to know this disease the closer we are to beating it. This newly discovered pocket could be the key in discovering how Mycobacterium tuberculosis takes up B12, a crucial vitamin for its survival. Now, the bigger mystery is how scientists can use this information to combat the disease from the inside out.
The WHO is tackling TB with all-inclusive approach, acknowledging the fact that the reason TB has not yet been eliminated is not because it’s impossible, but because there is a lack of attention to it. The “social determinants of health” are evident for a disease like TB, it is a disease of poverty and is linked to poor nutrition and living conditions. TB diagnoses, medications, and awareness has yet to reach the most at risk people. The WHO believes quicker and more readily available diagnoses are more beneficial to stopping TB due to its increasing drug resistance. We are able to cure TB, so we just need to get the right drugs and supplies to the areas of people who are being missed, and there are hotspots in every country, even the rich ones.
microBIOLOGY 