1,000 people die every day in India due to TB'

Mangalore, March 25: Tuberculosis is one of the leading infectious cause of death. There are nearly 1,000 deaths due to TB per day in India. Two people die in every three minutes. There are 3,30,000 deaths due to TB each year, said Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr K N Vijayprakash after inaugurating 'World TB Day' awareness programme held in Mangalore on Saturday.

“Though TB is 100 per cent curable, one should know that it is a contagious disease. In India, people do not complete the full course of medicine. If one is diagnosed with a disease, he shall take the medicine till he gets a temporary relief and then return to the prior unhealthy life style of smoking and drinking,” he regretted and asked people to take care of their health.

Most of the health workers are women and she is known for her capacity in bringing effective change in the society, he said.

“Around 30 per cent of world's population and 40 per cent of India's population have been infected with the TB virus due to lack of immunity. In India, around 40,000 people are affected to TB virus daily and the symptoms of the disease can be seen in 5,000 people. Around 1,000 people may die due to this,” said District Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr O R Srirangappa.

However, this disease is curable. With Direct Observation Treatment Short Course (DOTS) one can get free treatment for 6 to 8 months in Government hospitals and medical colleges. There are also facilities of distributing medicines near the patients home, he said.

The slogan of this year's World TB Day is “Stop TB in my life time”. The department is all set to start the DOTS Plus (Treatment for Multi Drug Resistant TB cases) by October 2012. The DOTS Plus Site and Culture DST Site is being identified at present. The health workers who are working for TB will receive an honorarium of Rs 250 for healing every TB patient, he informed.Infant Mary's Convent and Spandana Trust Head Sr Mary Emma Joseph regretted that TB goes undiagnosed in children as the health workers fail to recognise the symptoms. In case care is taken, a lot of lives can be saved, she said.

Dr Vijayprakash inaugurated a 'canopy' (a small awareness booth) which will be installed in various places with an aim of spreading awareness and curbing TB.

1.96 million new cases annually

There are 1.96 million new cases of TB annually in India. In these, 0.8 million are infectious cases. The incidence is more in North India than the South. It is more in urban areas and more common in males.

Indian experts led by TRC (2000) say that there are 3.8 million bacteriologically positive cases and WHO estimate (2007) is that there are 3.3 million TB cases.40 per cent of the Indian population are affected with the tuberculosis bacteria and only 10 per cent will develop TB disease in lifetime. Co-infection with HIV increases risk of TB disease by 5 to 6 times. There are 2.31 million people living with HIV and nearly 1 million are co-infected with HIV and TB. About 5 per cent of TB patients are estimated to be HIV positive.