Health

KEY POINTS

·        India has a high prevalence of TB with an annual incidence of 28 lakhs or 27% of the total global TB incidences.

·        Hence, India is currently the TB capital of India and to outsmart the disease, India must intercept - infection, progression and transmission.

Stages of TB

·        Infection – Infection occurs when TB bacilli are inhaled and the Bacilli may stay in the lungs or travel to other organs.

·        Once infected, the bacillus persists lifelong inside an organism’s body, but lies dormant - This phase is “latent TB”.

·        This can be diagnosed by a ‘Tuberculin Skin Test’ (TST).

·        Progression – From this dormant bacterium pool, a few germs slowly lead to the progression of disease in a time span of anywhere between 5 – 30 years.

·        Hence, the TB disease sets in only when bacilli become active and starts multiplying, and this phase is called “active TB”.

·        Transmission – Only when active TB affects the lungs do bacilli find an exit route to the atmosphere, which is the only mode of transmission.

What India should do?

·        Treatment of latent TB will prevent its progression to active TB and consequently bring down the “Annual Risk of Tuberculosis Infection” (ARTI).

·        To block transmission, treatment should begin as soon as symptoms show up, which will effectively bring down incidences.

·        For that, strengthening public-private sector health partnership and establishing efficient primary health care services is essential.

·        While dealing with the disease after onset is difficult, it is easier to prevent transmission and infection by healthy public etiquettes.

·        TB cases can be greatly reduced if basic health sensitiveness of not spitting in public and “mouth covered cough and sneeze practices” are adopted.

·        Prevention - Public education on TB and its prevention must replace ignorance and misconceptions that are presently prevalent.

·        Dealing with TB requires mass initiatives - health professionals, policy planners and administrators and the public must come together to solve it.

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