World Tuberculosis Day: Let's Spread Awareness
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.
<< Back