A Summary of Tuberculosis History

Despite all the drugs available today, tuberculosis is still a problem in many nations. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, each year, 8 million people worldwide develop active tuberculosis and nearly 2 million die. While the overall rate of new tuberculosis cases has continued to decline in the United States since national reporting began in 1953, the annual decrease in tuberculosis cases has slowed dramatically. TB continues to kill between 2 and 3 million people every year. The WHO estimates that 36 million people will die of tuberculosis by 2020 if it is not controlled.