A TB patient reported every second in the world

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

COLOMBO: A TB patient is reported every second in the world and about eight to ten million new TB patients are discovered annually, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

From this number, 34 per cent patients are from South East Asia. According to statistics, a TB patient who does not receive treatment infects 15 more healthy persons per year.

A large number of HIV/AIDS patients die from TB due to the lack of immunity. The number of persons dying from TB annually is higher than persons dying from natural disasters and wars, he added.

The spokesman said Sri Lanka has met the Global target of TB control by reducing the number of TB patients to 60 per 100,000 persons. Sri Lanka is aiming at reducing this number to one person per 100,000 by 2050.

In 2005, only 8,983 TB patients were reported from Sri Lanka and it decreased by 700 patients last year and the reported number of patients were 8,283.

The Government offers free medical examinations and treatment for suspected TB patients or patients with similar symptoms. Under present modern treatment method DOTS (Direct Observation Treatment Short - Cause) TB patients are not required to take several tablets for 12 months but only three tablets per one dose. TB is significantly dangerous among other epidemics and it can lead to death.

Treatment can cure this disease permanently.

TB is not a hereditary disease but an air borne disease, the spokesman said.

TB World Day today

COLOMBO: The World Tuberculosis (TB) Day falls today. This day will mark the 125th anniversary of discovering the bacterium cause TB by a German scientist Robert Koch.

The Health Care and Nutrition Ministry has organised several programmes at National and provincial level to mark the day.

The main ceremony organised by the National Programme for TB Control and Chest Diseases under the theme `Where TB is, it is everywhere’ will take place at the BMICH, today at 9 a.m.

Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva will be the chief guest. Awareness programmes have been organised by the Education Ministry for schoolchildren, farmers’ associations and prisoners.

Posters and stickers will be displayed in all Bank of Ceylon (BoC) branches and public transport services with the sponsorship of the Seva Vanitha Unit of the BoC.