India\s TB scare Need to replicate polio control strategyDESPITE several government and private sector funded programmes, India still carries the burden of 2.2 million tuberculosis (TB) patients, almost one quarter of the global TB patients. Till the 1940s when penicillin was commercially made available, tuberculosis remained a fatal disease. The use of antibiotics defeated the dreadful bacterium causing TB. The almost forgotten fear for the disease has returned-- this time with a mysterious strain which is drug-resistant, found in 12 patients in Mumbai alone in 2012. Panic spread because similar drug-resistant strains were discovered in Russia, China, Italy and Iran. TB is growing as a global epidemic and India seems to be the largest contributor to the global fear factor for its large population is inflicted with TB. Two contributing factors that complicate the treatment of TB in India are poverty and migration. It is a contagious disease and demands the patient to be secluded. Most victims of the disease live in densely populated areas that spread the contagion. Then, the treatment lasts longer, a minimum of six to nine months. Many patients leave in-between to resume work or migrate to other locations in search of work. The HIV-TB co-infection has also emerged as a major health concern. Given the resource crunch, the consequences of this combine are of epidemic proportions. Conquering the epidemic will require multi-pronged effort and political will. To begin with, India needs to launch a campaign, as massive and persistent as it did in the case of polio, for creating awareness. More beds are needed in TB hospitals and better diagnostic facilities in the primary health centres. Documentation of the treatment given to each TB patient, on the lines of polio, will help in keeping a tab on the patients. The drug-resistant strain of TB has created a global health crisis. India needs cooperation and help in drug research from the developed countries to control the new strains of TB from spreading elsewhere.current-affairs/2014-03-19/editorial/294
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 15:16:38 +0000
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