Dublin - Tuberculosis is the single leading cause of death worldwide among young women, according to new figures released by the World Health Organisation, writes Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor. Data released by the WHO at a meeting on TB and gender in Gothenburg, Sweden, today indicates 900 million women between 15 and 44 have the disease worldwide, 1 million will die this year and another 2.5 million will get the disease.
"Wives, mothers and wage-earners are being cut down in their prime and the world isn't noticing," according to Dr Paul Dolin of the WHO's global tuberculosis programme. TB accounts for 9 per cent of deaths worldwide for women between 15 and 44 compared with 4 per cent attributable to wars and 3 per cent each for HIV and heart disease. Young women are more susceptible than young men, particularly in regions where the disease is most common, including parts of Africa, south and south-east Asia and the Pacific rim.
Incidence in developing countries contrasts with the patient profile found in industrialised countries, where TB is most common in elderly men. A quarter of all cases in developed countries occur in men over 65, compared with only 10 per cent in developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. TB incidence has continued to fall throughout the 1990s in Ireland, with 640 cases recorded in 1991, but by 1996 the number fell to 434.