Author: Yejoon Choi - Northwood High School
Tuberculosis is a deadly disease that can be life-threatening, especially to those with compromised immune systems or in certain humid areas.
[Source: Getty Images]
Tuberculosis, the White Plague, or that one disease that writers and painters seem to catch throughout history, has taken itself as this oddly elusive issue that is passed off as just another deadly disease that an unlucky few experience. However, tuberculosis has persisted throughout humans for longer than most can imagine.
Tuberculosis belongs to the genus of Mycobacterium, with some of its distant relatives being another deadly disease, leprosy. Unlike most, around three-fourths of all known diseases that have come when domestication of animals began, tuberculosis appears to have instead come from a mycobacterium ancestor by the name of M. africanum. At first, tuberculosis was indeed speculated, with reasonable evidence, to have come from Mycobacterium Bovis, or M. bovis, a pathogen that mainly infects cows and is then transmitted to humans through consumption of their milk or meat, or when the cows cough out the bacteria, making it completely plausible in a typical farming environment for M. Bovis, somewhere, to have taken advantage of the oxygen-abundant lungs of humans and adapt to become M. tuberculosis. This, however, a recent study reveals to not necessarily be the case, as the mycobacterium appears to have branched off of M. africanum as stated before, and is actually an older descendant than M. bovis. This means that although M. tuberculosis existed with humans for around 20,000-30,000 years ago, this type of lung-related disease has existed with us for far longer than scientists previously estimated.
How exactly, does this practically ancient pathogen infect us? Well, most might know, as I have stated earlier, that M. tuberculosis is generally associated with lung-related complications/illnesses. While this is true in most cases, tuberculosis is actually not that simple and narrow of a pathogen that only occurs in one’s lungs. In fact, the mycobacterium actually can occur in other body parts such as the spine, kidney, or brain, and when inside the human body, has a relatively high chance of being inactivel. Most Mycobacterium tuberculosis that enters the human body is actually completely inactive for a nearly indefinite amount of time, meaning that a surprising amount of those infected will not show any symptoms of tuberculosis until the day that they die, which is approximately 90-95% of those infected. Many cases of tuberculosis are completely inactive, or being wiped out by your immune system even if they do try to proliferate, which may make tuberculosis a bit less threatening than people have made it up to be. However, tuberculosis, unlike most severely deadly or crippling diseases, is a type of air-borne disease and thrives in humid areas and comparably immuno-compromised victims, which coincidentally happens to be the lifestyle of artists or writers throughout history. In the present, however, those such as the homeless, elderly, and immuno-compromising AIDS/HIV victims, fall prey to this opportunity-taking pathogen, and although the developed hygienes and medicines of most societies can combat this pathogen and prevent it from causing the above symptoms, in countries where developed anti-biotics and hygiene are unfortunately not around, such as North Korea, people are basically helpless to this mycobacterial outbreak.
Despite the technological advancements that have made us stand our very own ground against pathogenic diseases, alongside many life-threatening illnesses, tuberculosis is a rather deadly reminder that these diseases are not to be underestimated and can strike at any moment.
The Korea Daily Youth Program
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