TuberculoseLa tuberculose est une maladie infectieuse causée par la bactérie Mycobacterium tuberculosis, qui se transmet par voie aérienne, avec des signes cliniques variables. Elle touche le plus souvent les poumons et peut parfois atteindre d’autres organes. Elle arrive en tête des causes de mortalité d'origine infectieuse à l’échelle mondiale, devant le sida. L'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) rapporte à travers son rapport annuel consacré à la tuberculose et sorti en 2015 que de personnes sont mortes de la tuberculose l’année précédente.
Acid-fastnessAcid-fastness is a physical property of certain bacterial and eukaryotic cells, as well as some sub-cellular structures, specifically their resistance to decolorization by acids during laboratory staining procedures. Once stained as part of a sample, these organisms can resist the acid and/or ethanol-based decolorization procedures common in many staining protocols, hence the name acid-fast. The mechanisms of acid-fastness vary by species, although the most well-known example is in the genus Mycobacterium, which includes the species responsible for tuberculosis and leprosy.
Disease vectorIn epidemiology, a disease vector is any living agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen to another living organism; agents regarded as vectors are organisms, such as parasites or microbes. The first major discovery of a disease vector came from Ronald Ross in 1897, who discovered the malaria pathogen when he dissected a mosquito. Arthropods form a major group of pathogen vectors with mosquitoes, flies, sand flies, lice, fleas, ticks, and mites transmitting a huge number of pathogens.
