According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by the bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, that most often affects the lungs. 25 percent of people in the world carry latent TB, which means that they have been infected by the bacteria but have not shown symptoms of the disease and cannot transmit it. These people have a 5 to 15% risk of developing the disease in the future. TB is one of the top 10 causes of death. In 2018, an estimated number of 10 million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million died, mostly in developing countries. Despite this, the rate of TB cases is decreasing at approximately 2 percent each year. The goal of the End TB Strategy project of the WHO is to achieve a 4 to 5 percent annual decline by 2020 and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations plan to end TB by 2030.

The TB bacteria spreads through the air. When people with TB cough, sneeze or spit, the bacteria will be released into the air and one could get infected by only inhaling a little, which is similar to how COVID-19 transmits. People who become infected with TB have a 5 to 15 percent risk of falling ill with it. Symptoms include cough with sputum and blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever, and night sweats. These symptoms might not be obvious for many months. People who are high risk are those who are HIV positive, or who have immunodeficiency, malnutrition, substance abuse, or smoking habits.

TB is curable and preventable. The most common diagnosis is through the Xpert MTB/RIF® test, which can detect TB and resistance to rifampicin (the most important TB medicine). The test can be completed within 2 hours and is recommended by the WHO as the initial diagnostic test for TB (WHO). Currently, there is no evidence that people with TB would be more likely to be infected with the Coronavirus. According to Science magazine, there will soon be a clinical trial testing a century-old TB vaccine’s effect on the human immune system and whether it could be used against the COVID-19.

References

"Coronavirus (COVID-19) and TB Q&A." ThetruthaboutTB.org.

de Vrieze, Jop. "Can a century-old TB vaccine steel the immune system against the new coronavirus?" Science, March 23, 2020.

"Tuberculosis." World Health Organization.

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The various pandemics introduced in this exhibition offer many connections to today’s Coronavirus epidemic. Some have very similar ways of transmission as the COVID-19 and history repeats itself—people fall ill with COVID-19 like their ancestors did with the pandemics of the past. The outbreak of COVID-19 shows us that there are still lessons to be learned from repeated historical disasters that mostly resulted from human ignorance or negligence. People must reflect on the mistakes we all might make that would facilitate the spread of disease during this global crisis, for which we are all responsible.

If proactive steps were described efficiently by governments for their citizens, the situation would possibly be easier to control. While we hope that viewers of this exhibition ponder and reflect, we also want to provide hope. For example, the fact that having tuberculosis does not lead to higher risk of the Coronavirus is useful information that provides some positivity for TB patients under the current situation. Our exhibition also points out that many major diseases of the past can become minor and easily curable in the present, if public health directives and appropriate vaccination guidelines are followed. By providing education on these pandemics, we hope to strengthen people’s medical literacy and awareness of the significance of public health information and directives. These include the importance of knowing social rules of etiquette such as how to sneeze and cough properly in front of others to avoid possible spread of illnesses and disease, and maintaining hygiene such as regular hand-washing.