Tuberculosis is the second-most common cause of death from infectious disease (after those due to HIV/AIDS). The total number of tuberculosis cases has been decreasing since 2005, while new cases have decreased since 2002. China has achieved particularly dramatic progress, with about an 80% reduction in its TB mortality rate between 1990 and 2010. The number of new cases has declined by 17% between 2004–2014. Tuberculosis is more common in developing countries; about 80% of the population in many Asian and African countries test positive in tuberculin tests, while only 5–10% of the US population test positive. Hopes of totally controlling the disease have been dramatically dampened because of a number of factors, including the difficulty of developing an effective vaccine, the expensive and time-consuming diagnostic process, the necessity of many months of treatment, the increase in HIV-associated tuberculosis, and the emergence of drug-resistant cases in the 1980s. COUNT 5
QSN1 What infectious disease causes more deaths than tuberculosis? ANS1 HIV/AIDS QSN2 When did new cases of TB infection start going down? ANS2 2002 QSN3 What country has had the most success reducing the TB mortality rate? ANS3 China QSN4 In what decade did some strains of drug-resistant TB start showing up? ANS4 1980s QSN5 How much did China reduce its rate of death from TB in the 20 years leading up to 2010? ANS5 80%