Life's like that!: World Tuberculosis Day

Today is World Tuberculosis Day.

Why do I care? Because husband was infected with TB when he was staying in a Thailand refugee camp after escaping from the Khmer Rouge War in Cambodia. All praise be to Allah SWT he received timely treatment in the camp and after he came to the United States. However he cannot take medicines that contain steroids to treat any sickness in order to prevent TB from flaring up in his body.

Whenever he mentions the desperate conditions in refugee camps, I always thank Allah SWT for giving me a safe environment to grow up in, and thank Allah SWT for sustaining husband during those terrible years as a Khmer Rouge War survivor and as a refugee.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

'Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.

In healthy people, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis often causes no symptoms, since the person's immune system acts to “wall off” the bacteria. The symptoms of active TB of the lung are coughing, sometimes with sputum or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Tuberculosis is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics.'

Refugee camps

Over 85% of refugees originate from and remain within areas of high TB burden, of which up to 50% may be infected.

TB becomes an important health problem in many refugee settings once the emergency phase is under control. Due to the changing nature of low-intensity conflicts in today’s world, complex emergencies are becoming common and refugees are forced to remain outside their countries for prolonged periods of time.

Refugee populations are vulnerable to TB because of:

overcrowding