Together we stand to defeat TB at national & international level

Islamabad : The mortality rate for tuberculosis has fallen by 42 per cent between the years 2000 and 2017 yet it is still the world’s leading killer among infectious diseases.

In 2017, Tuberculosis (TB) killed 1.6 million people, including 300,000 people with HIV, making it one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. TB is spread from person to person through coughing and sneezing. One person with active, untreated Tuberculosis can spread the disease to as many as 15 persons in a year that makes the hunt for ‘missing cases’ much important to reduce the burden of disease. The missing cases are those who are currently not diagnosed, treated or reported.

The collaborated efforts at global level have reduced the burden from TB mortality to 42 per cent which were started way back in 1882, when Dr Robert Koch discovered the TB bacterium first time, said Associate Professor of Pathology and Consultant Microbiologist at Al-Nafees Medical College, Islamabad Dr Humaira Zafar while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday in connection with World Tuberculosis Day observed on Sunday around the globe.

Like the past years, World Tuberculosis (TB) Day was celebrated again with the aim to create public awareness about this overwhelming health issue which is ultimately a step to defeat Tuberculosis around the globe, she said.

She added that like many countries, TB is a challenge yet to meet in Pakistan. The efforts of WHO and its guided National TB control programmes, are no doubt a big step to defeat Tuberculosis. These collaborated efforts are going on at various levels, the availability of TB screening and provision of first line anti TB drugs (ATT) in maximum tertiary care hospitals is a proof of this joint venture, she said.

Moreover, availability of such good health care facilities to all socioeconomic levels is indeed the success of this program and the timely diagnosis and provision of management facility is

helpful for early case recognition, reducing the morbidities and mortalities, said Dr. Humaira.

Referring to a WHO report, she said the latest published report by WHO for the year 2019, narrated the latest guidelines for the management of TB. It was emphasised that even for multi drug resistant cases (MDR), oral anti tuberculosis therapy (ATT) should be the preferred. The main aim

behind this is to reduce the side effects of ATT drugs, she said.

She added that active monitoring by drug safety protocols and counselling of patients especially focusing the successful completion of treatment may make the situation much better. Moreover the Global data showed that pharmaceutical companies are working hard to establish new drug combinations which can successfully treat even the resistant TB cases as the successful results for few drugs were seen after phase II trials, she said.

According to her, the aim of all stakeholders should be to release a stress regarding TB in Pakistan, its resistant pattern emergence and management options. All we need is to create awareness amongst the community for early case recognition by various tests like acid fast bacilli (AFB) screening, AFB sputum cultures, polymerization chain reaction (PCR) on sputum samples to confirm the diagnosis along with the knowledge about resistant pattern for first line ATT drugs as all this would be helpful to combat the disease, she said.

She added the government and health care providers are devoted to reduce the miseries of Tuberculosis sufferers. Now it is the utmost duty of all of us to help the TB sufferers in reducing their desolation, treating them on humanitarian grounds, and counselling them to take proper treatment for six to nine months, she said.

She added this will be a big contribution at individual level and the role played by individuals will be a part of global theme that is ‘End Tuberculosis to Ensure No One is Left Behind’.