Case Study:
November 2010:
Abhinav is a class XII student. He is busy gearing up for his board exams. He is buried in his books at least 14 hours a day. And why not? He has high ambitions. He wants to get in to the top engineering college in the country. He gets extremely tired when he returns home from school. His parents are worried about his sudden weight loss. Ahinav is constantly fatigued, breaks in to sweats and shivers often. He ignores it, citing his cramped up schedule as a reason. Abhinav has gulped down 18 bottles of cough syrup in the past three weeks, but his cough doesn’t seem to go away. One morning he coughs out blood. He panics and finally consults a pulmonologist.
Upon examining, it is found that Abhinav has had pulmonary tuberculosis for over a month. He is immediately on a multi-drug treatment
December 2010:
After a month’s treatment, abhinav starts feeling better.
January 2011:
Abhinav discontinues medication
Jan 15, 2011:
Tuberculosis returns
February 2011:
Abhinav dies despite continuing the treatment again.
This is only a fictional case study but this is exactly what happens in India. Read more on tuberculosis and educate others around you.
DO NOT IGNORE TB SYMPTOMS
Image Courtesy: http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/adam/images/en/tuberculosis-of-the-lungs-picture.jpg
Disease: Tuberculosis
Caused by: Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
Affected Parts: Usually the lungs but can also affect the brain, the kidneys, the heart, bladder (But most often it’s the Lungs; Pulmonary tuberculosis)
According to estimates from WHO (World Health Organization)
- India accounts for one-fifth of the global TB incident cases.
- Each year nearly 2 million people in India develop TB, of which around 0.87 million are infectious cases.
- About 40% of Indian Population is infected with TB bacteria.
- It is estimated that annually around 330,000 Indians die due to TB.
- In India, TB accounts for 17.6 % of deaths from communicable deaths from communicable disease and 3.5% of all cause mortality.
- About 70% of TB patients are aged between 15 to 54 years, most productive period of lifetime.
Symptoms include
- Cough with a progressive increase in production of mucus
- Dry Cough
- Coughing up blood.
- Fever
- Loss of appetite
- Unexplained weight loss
- Night sweats
- Fatigue
Transmission:
People with the disease; active pulmonary TB transmit the disease when they cough, sneeze, spit or even speak. A sneeze can release up to 40,000 droplets. Each of these droplets can transmit the disease. Less then 10-20 bacteria may cause an infection.
This is why it is important to isolate a patient with tuberculosis and any contacts need to be screened and tested. TB transmission, disease progression and severity are also adversely affected by recent increase in HIV emergence. Tuberculosis is one of the earliest opportunistic diseases to develop in HIV infected persons.
Diagnosis:
- Sputum Analysis
- Tuberculin skin test (Mantoux test)
- X Ray
Treatment
- Antituberculosis treatment.
- Due to the chemical structure of the bacterial cell wall, antibiotics are ineffective as the entry in to the cell is hindered.
- Active TB is treated with a combination of antituberculosis drugs.
- Most commonly used drugs are Rifampicin and Isoniazid.
- The DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short-course) strategy of tuberculosis treatment recommended by WHO was based on clinical trials done in the 1970s by Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai, India. The government of India has made provision to offer these medicines free of cost to patients suffering from the disease. This is executed through a national programme, RNTCP (Revised national tuberculosis control programme)
- Treatment period is usually from 6 – 24 months, depending on organ affected and its severity.
- People with latent infections are treated in special circumstances, to prevent them from progressing to active TB disease later in life.
DO NOT IGNORE THE SYMPTOMS OF TUBERCULOSIS:
- Because the disease is infectious, spreads too quickly and is deadly without proper treatment
- Delayed treatment is risky and an active Pulmonary tuberculosis patient has a 50 % risk of death
- Earlier the diagnosis, easier the treatment
DO NOT DISCONTINUE THE TREATMENT. Complete the full course as advised by your physician
