Chennai: Regardless of all developments in the field of medicine, tuberculosis seems to be rising in Tamilnadu. The State ranked second in 2017 with highest number of the disease, trailing behind Karnataka. The 2018, statistics acquired by News Today from Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), reveals that it is no less than the previous year.
A total of 1,12, 877 patients have been diagnosed with the deadly disease.
Experts in the city noted that India is a high TB burden country and particularly multidrug-resistant TB. In Tamilnadu, officials state that more than 80 per cent of the cases are pulmonary infection and the other organs that can be contracted are lymph nodes, pleural effusion, endometrium, to name a few.
“It should be considered that when pulmonary tuberculosis is not cured in time, the patient has the capacity to spread it to 15 people in a year’s time,” said a government doctor.
SYMPTOMS
Gleneagles Global Hospitals pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine associate consultant, Dr Suresh S, urges people to immediately consult an expert if they have persistent cough, rise of temperature in evening and loss of weight and appetite.
“The vulnerable groups are people with condition like diabetes and patients who take immuno-suppressant drugs for treatment including dialysis, chemotherapy,” said Dr Suresh.
POSITIVE SIGN
The Central TB division functioning under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, recently released India TB Report 2018 in which it is stated that in 2017, almost 85 per cent of the patient-population were fresh incidents. However, the government authorities claim this is a good sign.
State TB Commissioner, Dr K Senthil Raj, said, “The country’s goal is to eliminate the disease by 2025, for which it is pertinent to find new cases, treat and cure them. When a patient consumes anti-TB drugs, continuously for six months it can certainly be cured, unlike HIV. Finding more cases and putting them on treatment is very essential.”
The official further stated that the department had carried out ‘active case finding’ project for few months in 2017 and 2018 and had detected more than 1,000 new cases every year.
DUAL ADVANTAGE
“Gene Xpert or CB NAAT test is used for diagnosis of the condition and it offers two advantages – detection of tubercle bacilli and identification of resistance to one of the two major suggested drugs. With the resistant drug being eliminated, the experts prescribe susceptible medicines for six months,” said Government Hospital of Thoracic Medicine Superintendent, Dr Sridhar.
| FOLLOW ON |
| The State officials monitor the drug intake with 99 DOTS application. There will be a telephone number provided under each tablet and on consumption of which, the patient has to give a missed call. It does not matter whether the person does not have a smart phone or a mobile application or even talktime balance to complete the process. It is a toll-free number, stated Senthil Raj. When the regional TB centre identifies the gap, the medical expert enquires with the patient and follows up until they are cured. |
| MOBILE SCREENING |
| To make the city TB-free, the Greater Chennai Corporation had planned to acquire seven mobile vans for diagnosis at the cost of Rs 4. 59 crore. As part of the project, one van has been obtained and it was test-run in Zone 4, 47th Ward this week. Fiftyfive people benefitted on the first day of operation. |