JAKARTA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian Health Ministry announced that more than 100,000 people are killed by tuberculosis in the country per year, with total new cases over 500,000, the Antara news agency reported here Friday.
"Every year it is found over a half million new cases of tuberculosis," Iwan Muljono, a director at the ministry said.
The director said that half of the total cases were categorized as infectious diseases.
"Tuberculosis is still a deadly disease in Indonesia now," he said.
The director said that among the causes of the rise of the cases was poverty and lack of funds.
Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused my mycobacteria, usually mycobacterium tuberculosis in human.
The disease usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air, when people who have the disease cough, sneeze, or spit.
