ABSTRACT
Tuberculosis remained a contagious disease transmitted to those who came in contact with individuals with active tuberculosis, and it continued to infect individuals of all ages. The reappearance of tuberculosis as a major news item during the 1980s challenged popular belief that tuberculosis was successfully cured. Ninety-five percent of tuberculosis cases and ninety-eight percent of tuberculosis deaths occurred in developing countries. Medical experts were completely caught off guard in the 1980s when the number of reported cases of tuberculosis began to arise rapidly around the world. Tuberculosis increased by twenty-seven percent among Blacks, seven percent among Hispanics and forty-six percent among Asian/Pacific Islanders, but decreased by ten percent among non-Hispanic Whites and twenty-three percent among Native Americans. Tuberculosis kills the majority of Russian HIV/AID patients. Tuberculosis is a social disease; social factors can prevent a single case from spreading or can lead to an outbreak.
