Tuberculosis in the honor

On Wednesday, October 24, a major international congress on tuberculosis will be held in The Hague [19659006]. The Hague is a major international conference on tuberculosis. Tuberculosis – or tuberculosis – is less common in the Netherlands, but it is the most deadly infectious disease in the world. Every year, more than 1.5 million people die from TB.

Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium and usually occurs in the lungs. The bacteria is almost always transmitted by air, for example by coughing. The disease can be treated with a combination of different antibiotics. People can carry the TB bacteria for a long time without getting fed up. You call this a latent TB infection. The disease can still manifest later.

Tuberculosis in the Netherlands
Tuberculosis occurs in the Netherlands every year in about 800 people. The goal is to reduce by 25% the transmission of tuberculosis and the number of patients in the Netherlands over the next five years. This is described in the National Tuberculosis Plan. The most important new measure to achieve this goal is the detection of tuberculosis and latent tuberculosis among immigrants and asylum seekers entering the Netherlands.

Worldwide
This disease is difficult to control in the world. There is no vaccine that works well and a latent infection can cause disease after many years. Control is complicated by the combination of HIV infection and resistance (insensitivity) to rifampicin, the main drug against tuberculosis. Treatment of rifampicin-resistant TB is complex and takes much longer. HIV infection increases the risk of tuberculosis. It is therefore important to identify and treat an HIV infection as soon as possible. According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, tuberculosis in the world must end in 2030.

The Congress
The "World Conference on Respiratory Health" takes place from October 24-27 at the World Forum in The Hague. During the conference, approximately 3,000 professionals from more than 125 countries will meet to discuss how to ban TB from the world. The theme of the conference is "Declaring our rights: social and political solutions". This theme underscores the importance of political involvement in the fight against tuberculosis and the threat of smoking, air pollution and other lung diseases

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