A TB, Pandemic Suffocating the City Dwellers

Tuberculosis (tuberculosis - TB) is an infectious disease that can be fatal. Many years ago, medical knowledge has made available the way to prevent and relieve this epidemic. If you take the medication for the recommended amount of time and follow the doctor's instructions, you can achieve total health. But still many people do not know about this disease and every year 20 lakh people across the country and about one crore people around the world are affected by this disease. This is the epidemic that is killing the most people in the country.

According to the estimate of the World Health Organization (WHO), the latest statistics show that 3 lakh people die of this disease every year in our country. Doctors are analyzing the increasing pollution, smoking as well as not detecting disease at the right time, and not using proper medicines are the main reasons for not being able to overcome this problem.

Contrary to popular belief, tuberculosis can affect any part of the body, not just the lungs. This illness can also damage the intestinal system, meninges, lymph nodes, bones, and kidneys. But the disease mostly targets the lungs. "Symptoms include prolonged cough for more than four weeks, strong cough with expectoration, fever in the evening and at night, abrupt loss of weight, and full lack of appetite," said Sr.D.S. Sowjanya Pulmonologist of Kamineni Hospitals, Hyderabad.

Expert doctors advise using some standardized tests to diagnose the illness. Sputum smear, chest X-ray, and sputum culture tests can be used to diagnose this condition. However, the recently developed nuclear acid amplification test can now quickly and accurately diagnose this illness in just 100 minutes. Called NAAT, this test is based on DNA. Provides three times better results in detecting caries.

Youngsters with poor immune systems, elderly persons, people infected with HIV, and malnourished adults are in danger of developing tuberculosis easily. It is easy to avoid infection and fatalities with a few precautions. The danger of infecting 15 to 20 persons increases if one TB patient is not treated. Up to 40,000 pathogens are present before he coughs or sneezes.

They enter, mix with the environment, and spread to other people. They thrive when the immune system is compromised, and tuberculosis then appears. For this reason, medical professionals advise keeping the patient segregated and under close observation until the illness is treated. It is vital to ensure that the tuberculosis patient is taking the medication appropriately and to supply them with sustenance to cope with the minimal side effects of the drug as part of this treatment.

The TB germs may become more resistant to the antibiotic if the treatment is stopped before it has totally cleared the problem. As a result, the patient's illness becomes more resistant to treatment. Spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis in such patients. The leading pulmonologist at Kamineni Hospitals said “Around 10% of the country's tuberculosis patients at present have TB that does not react to medications in this manner. As a result, all TB patients receive complete treatment”.