A disease of the past?

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Symptoms of TB include cough, fever, night sweats, and rapid weight loss – the disease used to be called ‘consumption’ because of this.

It has caused illness and death in people for thousands of years. However, the number of cases of TB fell dramatically in countries like the UK in the middle of the 20^th century thanks to improved standards of living, better general health, effective anti-TB drugs and TB vaccination programmes. In fact, progress against the disease was so successful that, by the 1980s, many countries, such as the UK and USA became confident that they could wipe out TB altogether.

This was too optimistic, and the number of cases of TB has increased worldwide, partly because of HIV. TB mainly affects poorer people, young adults and elderly people, and people who have been weakened by other diseases or by not having enough to eat.

In people who have HIV, TB is an AIDS-defining illness. Worldwide, TB is now the most common cause of death among people with HIV. It is one of the most common AIDS-defining illnesses in the UK, but treatment is available for it in nearly all cases.