Connotation has changed, Tuberculosis is no more restricted to poor and uneducated but has very much sniffed unprecendtly even into well-to-do and educated one’s life. Yes! One thing has not changed, and that is the stigma associated with the disease, as there are lakhs of people who are ostracized, if found associated with TB.
Reportedly there are thousand deaths caused by TB per day worldwide ironically, even after it is a curable disease. These deaths could have been averted with timely treatment but somehow, somewhere the patients could not avail the treatment, which comes for no cost at government hospitals and dispensaries.
The whole picture, if remain unchanged will cripple India due to the burden of carrying the highest number of TB patients, which accounts for more than 30%.
The world celebrated the “World Tuberculosis Day” on March 24 to aware the people of this gravest threat to mankind. It was Dr Robert Koch, who discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the Tubercule bacillus on this day in 1882. The killer bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis enter into body through nose, mouth and reached at its safe house, lungs, where it multiplies and slowly eats up the person causing eventually death.
The disease is often associated with person, whose immunosystem is compromised for various reasons such as, if the person suffers from diabetes or had gone for organ transplantation. Various other symptoms associated with it includes loss of strength, weight loss, rise in body temperature-mostly in the evening, difficulty in breathing, body ache, indigestion, pain in the chest, cough and blood in the sputum are the symptoms of the disease.
The latest report of WHO dug the loopholes in our national programmes and as per the report, decline in number of cases affected with the disease is due to slowing down of these programmes by the government in our country.
Also the new combo of HIV and TB has made the disease more lethal, killing the infected person in their most productive years of 15-59.
A large number of patients are labourers, slum dwellers and comes from the poor region of our country. Hence the need of awareness and availability of proper hygiene has gained more importance along with available and popular treatment. Directly Observed Treatment-Short course, (DOTS) which if taken by the patient can virtually cure this ailment and even arrest the chances of multi-drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB).
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