Better Control of TB Seen If a Faster Cure Is Found
The World Health Organization1 estimates that about one-third of all people are infected with bacteria that cause tuberculosis.Most times,the infection remains inactive.But each year about eight million people develop active cases of TB,usually in their 1 .Two million people die 2 it.The disease has 3 with the spread of AIDS and drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis.
Current treatments take at least six months.Patients have to 4 a combination of several antibiotic drugs daily.But many people stop 5 they feel better.Doing that can 6 to an infection that resists treatment.Public health experts agree that a faster-acting cure for tuberculosis would be more effective.Now a study estimates just how 7 it might be.A professor of international health at Harvard University2 led the study.Joshua Salomon says a shorter treatment program would likely mean not just more patients 8.It would also mean 9 infectious patients who can pass on their infection to others.
The researchers developed a mathematical model to examine the effects of a two-month treatment plan.They 10 the model with current TB conditions in Southeast Asia.The scientists found that a two-month treatment could prevent about twenty percent of new cases.And it might 11 about twenty-five percent of TB deaths.The model shows that these 12 would take place between two thousand twelve and two thousand thirty.That is,if a faster cure is developed and in wide use by two thousand twelve.