Pakistan reports 43,000 TB cases every year

PESHAWAR: A seminar was informed on Thursday that Pakistan is the fifth among the list of 22 most affected countries of the world as 43,000 cases of the disease are reported here every year.
The one-day seminar and poster competition on tuberculosis was arranged at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University (SBBWU) to know the status of the disease in the region and determine factors responsible for its spread.
Dr Muhammad Siddique was the keynote speaker on the occasion. In charge of the Department of Microbiology Marrukh Khattak and director administration Amanullah Khan also spoke on the occasion.
The seminar titled: “Tuberculosis: Its prevalence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the ongoing research in this field” was organised by the Department of Microbiology of SBBWU. The keynote speaker said one-thirds of the world population was affected by the disease. He said tuberculosis is a curable disease. It, however, needs timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment. He said the success rate of treatment of the disease in Pakistan was 91 percent.
A good number of students and faculty members of the university attended the moot. Later, prizes and certificates were distributed among the students who took part in the poster competition.