World Tuberculosis Day: Let’s Spread Awareness

By Dr. Deepak Talwar in Pulmonology, Respiratory & Sleep Medicine

Mar 24, 2018

You don’t have to worry or get into the panic state when you hear your doctor saying that you have been diagnosed with Tuberculosis (Tb). With all the latest advancements in the medicine, tuberculosis is now treatable and hence curable.

Majority of people are hesitant of consulting their doctors and some can’t even afford the basic course of treatment due to financial or some other issues. We are aware of the fact that TB is being the ninth leading cause of death worldwide, and somewhere the credit goes to everyone who doesn’t consult their doctors or completes the full medication course.

24th March is being observed as World Tuberculosis Day all across the globe. Let us make our efforts to put a full stop on this fatal disease. The day not only enlightens the people about this disease but also tells them all the preventive measures that they can take to keep themselves healthy. In various countries, the government provides free screening and free dose of medications to all the people suffering from tuberculosis. Tb treatment in all government hospitals and recognized centres is free in India.

Every year the day is followed by a specific theme and this year the theme for the day is: “Wanted: Leaders for a TB-Free World. You can make History. END TB.”

Background:

Tuberculosis is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium bacteria, which majorly affects the lungs of a person. Tuberculosis is contagious as it gets transmitted from an infected person to a healthy person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the disease.

World Tuberculosis Day was primarily observed in the year 1882 by Dr. Robert Koch who detected the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. He took the first step towards diagnosing and curing tuberculosis.

According to WHO, the year 2005 holds the record of the largest number of new TB cases all across the South-East Asia, which was accountable for 34% of incident cases worldwide.

In the year 2000-2015, 49 million lives were saved from TB through effective diagnosis and treatment.

Now let’s talk about the impact of Tuberculosis in India:

With the reports published in the year 2016, nearly about 10.4 million new cases of TB got registered worldwide. Seven countries were majorly accountable for 64% of total burden of the disease, where India is accountable for maximum number of TB patients. The other six countries are- Indonesia, China, Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and South Africa.

According to the Global Report published by WHO in the year 2017, India still continues to have the highest number of tuberculosis cases in the world; with an estimate of 27.9 lakh patients living with TB and up to 4.23 lakh patients have died during the year.

Symptoms of tuberculosis:

• Coughing, sometimes with mucus or blood
• Chills
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Loss of Weight
• Loss of appetite
• Night sweats

Preventive Measures:

The BCG Vaccination:

Presently, the BCG vaccine (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) is the only live and licensed vaccination present against TB in the world, and has been in use since 1921. This vaccine is prepared from a strain of a weakened bovine tuberculosis bacillus, Mycobactrium Bovis.

The vaccination is 80% effective in the prevention of TB and is more effective against complex form of TB in kids. You should consult your doctor before starting any medication.

Early Diagnosis:

Early diagnosis and treatment is the most effectual way in the prevention process of Tuberculosis. After the two weeks of medication, the majority of patients don’t remain infectious.

Managing your Environment:

Tuberculosis is an air-borne disease; hence it’s very important to keep our surroundings clean. The risk of the infection can be reduced by following these simple steps:

By keeping the good ventilation, natural source of light as UV light kills off TB Bacteria, maintaining good hygiene such as covering mouth while coughing and sneezing will reduce the spread of TB bacteria.

World Tuberculosis Day is an opportunity to organize political as well as social commitments for future progress by eliminating TB as a public health disorder.

“Every year, nearly nine million people are diagnosed with Tuberculosis and approximately 3 million of them don’t get the care they needed. It’s high time now that we should think about this alarming situation and consider consulting  the doctors to make sure the timely diagnosis and treatment and make our communities Tb free.”, says Dr. Deepak Talwar, Chair and Head – Metro Centre for Respiratory Diseases.