Risk assessment and Epidemiology - Essay Example

Our discussion will be related to India where Tuberculosis or TB is a massive health problem. Here in this module we will examine the pathogen that is the cause of such a massive health disaster, and also make an epidemiological risk assessment for the same . Tuberculosis is caused by the pathogenic species Mycobacterium Tuberculosis as well as Mycobacterium Bovis. TB is spread generally through aerosols, when a person sneezes, or through cough and cold. Among the total cases in the world India caters 1/5th of the total cases with a whooping 2 million of patients .

An approximately 0.3-0.4 million people die from TB in India each year .Tuberculosis affects the central nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory system .Here the pathogen takes the most simplified route for the disease to spread i.e. through air .In 1990 The World Health Organization had declared TB to be the 7th most deadliest disease in the world. It also points out to a bare fact that TB shall continue to remain in that position till 2020 .Three years later in 1993 WHO declared TB as a global emergency.

Such statistics acts as a pointer to India's position which remains grin . Exposure to the disease can take place from various fonts, these are i) nature of the contact that take place ii) the frequency of the contact iii) Frequency of the infected person in a certain region. Here the frequency may vary from villages to towns and cities .The hygiene and the healthcare habits of individuals , their lifestyle system , values also plays an important factor for the rapid spread of the disease .

O'Grady and Riley in 1963 had experimentally demonstrated that Tubercle Bacilli was the causative agent that help in the transmission of the pathogenic