Around a third of the world’s population is a carrier of symptom-free, latent tuberculosis, which is contagious and can break out if the immune system is weakened. Since the beginning of the corona crisis, fewer, but more severe TB cases have been registered in Austria, according to the Society for Pneumology (ÖGP).
Resistant due to wrong therapy
The pathogens are transmitted by droplets in the air we breathe. The disease usually manifests itself in the lungs, but almost all organs can be affected. The course can be difficult and fatal. Anyone who is diagnosed and treated early does not get as seriously ill, the risk of consequential damage is far lower and the chain of infection is quickly broken. “Inadequate therapy or incorrect therapy can lead to the development of resistant tuberculosis bacteria, which can then only be treated with great difficulty or, in the worst case, can no longer be treated,” says Bernd Lamprecht, head of the Kepler University Hospital in Linz.
Source: Nachrichten
