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Do not fill this in! === Public health === Public health campaigns which have focused on overcrowding, public spitting and regular sanitation (including hand washing) during the 1800s helped to either interrupt or slow spread which when combined with contact tracing, isolation and treatment helped to dramatically curb the transmission of both tuberculosis and other airborne diseases which led to the [[Tuberculosis elimination|elimination of tuberculosis]] as a major public health issue in most developed economies.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Clark M, Riben P, Nowgesic E | title = The association of housing density, isolation and tuberculosis in Canadian First Nations communities | journal = International Journal of Epidemiology | volume = 31 | issue = 5 | pages = 940β945 | date = October 2002 | pmid = 12435764 | doi = 10.1093/ije/31.5.940 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Barberis I, Bragazzi NL, Galluzzo L, Martini M | title = The history of tuberculosis: from the first historical records to the isolation of Koch's bacillus | journal = Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene | volume = 58 | issue = 1 | pages = E9βE12 | date = March 2017 | pmid = 28515626 | pmc = 5432783 }}</ref> Other risk factors which worsened TB spread such as malnutrition were also ameliorated, but since the emergence of HIV a new population of immunocompromised individuals was available for TB to infect. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB a "global health emergency" in 1993,<ref name="Lancet11" /> and in 2006, the Stop TB Partnership developed a [[Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis]] that aimed to save 14 million lives between its launch and 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stoptb.org/global/plan/|title=The Global Plan to Stop TB|publisher=[[World Health Organization]] (WHO)|year=2011|access-date=13 June 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612030924/http://www.stoptb.org/global/plan/|archive-date=12 June 2011}}</ref> A number of targets they set were not achieved by 2015, mostly due to the increase in HIV-associated tuberculosis and the emergence of multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis.<ref name="Lancet11" /> A [[tuberculosis classification]] system developed by the [[American Thoracic Society]] is used primarily in public health programs.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Warrell DA, Cox TM, Firth JD, Benz EJ |title=Sections 1β10|year=2005|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|location=Oxford [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-19-857014-1|page=560|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EhjX517cGVsC&pg=PA560|edition=4. ed., paperback|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906210011/https://books.google.com/books?id=EhjX517cGVsC&pg=PA560|archive-date=6 September 2015}}</ref> In 2015, it launched the [[End TB Strategy]] to reduce deaths by 95% and incidence by 90% before 2035. The goal of tuberculosis elimination is hampered by the lack of rapid testing, of short and effective treatment courses, and of [[tuberculosis vaccine|completely effective vaccines]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Uplekar M, Weil D, Lonnroth K, Jaramillo E, Lienhardt C, Dias HM, Falzon D, Floyd K, Gargioni G, Getahun H, Gilpin C, Glaziou P, Grzemska M, Mirzayev F, Nakatani H, Raviglione M | display-authors = 6 | title = WHO's new end TB strategy | journal = Lancet | volume = 385 | issue = 9979 | pages = 1799β1801 | date = May 2015 | pmid = 25814376 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60570-0 | s2cid = 39379915 }}</ref> The benefits and risks of giving anti-tubercular drugs in those exposed to MDR-TB is unclear.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fraser A, Paul M, Attamna A, Leibovici L | title = Drugs for preventing tuberculosis in people at risk of multiple-drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis | journal = The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | issue = 2 | pages = CD005435 | date = April 2006 | volume = 2006 | pmid = 16625639 | pmc = 6532726 | doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD005435.pub2 | collaboration = Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group }}</ref> Making HAART therapy available to HIV-positive individuals significantly reduces the risk of progression to an active TB infection by up to 90% and can mitigate the spread through this population.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Piggott DA, Karakousis PC | title = Timing of antiretroviral therapy for HIV in the setting of TB treatment | journal = Clinical & Developmental Immunology | volume = 2011 | pages = 103917 | date = 27 December 2010 | pmid = 21234380 | pmc = 3017895 | doi = 10.1155/2011/103917 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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