Expat Medical Insurance News: TB 'remains a threat in numerous countries'
11/01/10 13:37
Tuberculosis remains a threat in numerous countries around the world, and more than a third of the world's population is infected with the bacterium that causes the disease, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a report indicates.
Individuals moving from their home country to a destination more at risk of the disease may wish to invest in international medical insurance before making a move abroad.
According to the Telegraph, the disease killed some 1.8 million people in 2008, up from 1.77 million in 2007.
While the disease is linked with poverty, it does affect people in a number of emerging economies, including India and China.
A number of drug-resistant forms of the disease have developed, partly because patients stop taking their medication when they start to feel better rather than completing a prescribed course, the newspaper suggests.
It adds that multidrug-resistant forms of TB, particularly in the former Soviet Union, China and India, threaten efforts to control the spread of the disease.
The Mycobacterium tuberculosis is, however, very slow moving, so many of those with the bacteria may never become infected with the disease as the body's immune system has a long time to ward off the threat.
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