World Tuberculosis Day: We need information on TB

Compliments of the season. Last Sunday, 24th March was the World Tuberculosis Day. Kindly use your column to enlighten the populace about the disease, risk factors, prevention and treatment. Abdul O. Thanks Abdul for your question. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide (according to World Health Organization). Tuberculosis (TB) […]

Compliments of the season. Last Sunday, 24th March was the World Tuberculosis Day. Kindly use your column to enlighten the populace about the disease, risk factors, prevention and treatment.

Abdul O.

Thanks Abdul for your question. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide (according to World Health Organization). Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis that most often affect the lungs.

Tuberculosis is curable and preventable. It is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air. A person needs to inhale only a few of these germs to become infected. About one-quarter of the world’s population has latent TB, which means people have been infected by TB bacteria but are not (yet) ill with the disease and cannot transmit it.

Who are most at risk?

• Tuberculosis mostly affects adults in their most productive years. However, all age groups are at risk.
• People who are infected with HIV are 20 to 30 times more likely to develop active TB.
• The risk of active TB is also greater in persons suffering from other conditions that impair the immune system.
• Tobacco use greatly increases the risk of TB disease and death.

What are the symptoms and how is TB diagnosed?

• When a person develops active TB disease, the symptoms (such as cough with sputum, fever, night sweats, or weight loss) may be mild for many months. This can lead to delays in seeking care, and result in transmission of the bacteria to others. People with active TB can infect 10–15 other people through close contact over the course of a year.
• Many countries still rely on a long-used method called sputum smear microscopy to diagnose TB. Trained laboratory technicians look at sputum samples under a microscope to see if TB bacteria are present. Microscopy detects only half the number of TB cases and cannot detect drug-resistance.
• The use of the rapid test Xpert MTB/RIF will detect TB that is missed by microscopy, especially among children.

What are the treatment options?

TB is a treatable and curable disease. Active, drug-susceptible TB disease is treated with a standard 6 month course of 4 antimicrobial drugs that are provided with information, supervision and support to the patient by a health worker or trained volunteer. Without such support, treatment adherence can be difficult and the disease can spread. The vast majority of TB cases can be cured when medicines are provided and taken properly.

How is TB related to HIV?

People living with HIV are 20 to 30 times more likely to develop active TB disease than people without HIV. HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other’s progress.

What is Multidrug-resistant TB?

Anti-TB medicines have been used for decades and strains that are resistant to 1 or more of the medicines have been documented in every country surveyed. Drug resistance emerges when anti-TB medicines are used inappropriately, through incorrect prescription by health care providers, poor quality drugs, and patients stopping treatment prematurely.

How to prevent the spread of TB?

If one is infectious while at home, one can protect oneself and others by doing the simple actions below:

1. 1. Wash your hands after sneezing, coughing or holding your hands near your mouth or nose.
2. 2. Cover your mouth with a tissue when you cough, sneeze or laugh. Discard used tissues in a plastic bag, then seal and throw it away.
3. 3. Do not attend work or school.
4. 4. Avoid close contact with others.
5. 5. Sleep in a room away from other family members.
6. 6. Ventilate your room regularly. TB spreads in small closed spaces. Put a fan in your window to blow out air that may contain bacteria.
7. 7. BCG Vaccine does offer increased protection against developing TB but it is only effective in children, not adults. So take your children to hospital for BCG.