Statistics on TB frightening

TODAY, one person dies every two hours from tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea.
If this fact, supplied by World Vision, is correct, PNG loses 12 people a day, 84 people a week and 4,368 people a year from the disease.
World Vision reports that there are 16,000 new cases of the disease detected each year. Of these, 2,900 are infected with HIV as well.
HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis together are a deadly concoction and both have today made intractable inroads into PNG society.
These statistics are frightening. Tuberculosis, left untreated, is a wasting and most fatal disease.
Even more frightening is the fact that the TB germ, unlike HIV, is airborne.
This means that the germ can be breathed into the body and does not need personal contact to spread.
Early symptoms are not easily detectable. It starts with persistent coughing but this is a phenomenon that most societies live with.
Living in the tropics where there is plenty of dust and wind, coughing is a natural part of life.
Nobody would be alarmed at somebody coughing until other symptoms such as loss of weight began to show.
By then, the disease has been resident and multiplying in the host person for long enough for it to be transmitted to a sizeable portion of the population in the community.
This is a far greater threat than the AIDS pandemic.
TB is airborne and caused by a germ that is contagious. It is spread from a sick person to other people by coughing, sneezing or spitting.
The TB germ is passed from one person to another on tiny droplets of moisture through:
lCoughing without covering the mouth;
lSneezing without covering the mouth; and
lSpitting carelessly.
The main signs of TB are:
lCoughing for more than three weeks;
lLoss of appetite;
lWeight loss.
The good news is that TB is treatable.
It is vital that every person is informed of and takes proactive approach for the health of all in the community.
One sick person can very easily infect the entire household and every household in a community.
Treatment requires a very strict regime.
One has to take the medication everyday for six months. Default for only one day and it is highly likely that the victim becomes resistant to the drugs and has to move to an advanced regime which requires injections for an equally long period of time.
Once medication has begun, the person with TB cannot spread the virus which is comforting but the important thing is early detection and early treatment in order to stop it spreading uncontrollably.
A strain of TB has also emerged which is resistant to drugs and that is all the more worrisome but many instances merely result because those afflicted do not take medication every day as advised.
TB is curable and it can be prevented by:
lCovering mouths when coughing or sneezing;
lNot spitting anyhow and anywhere;
lEnsure there is good ventilation in the house or workplace;
lThe tuberculosis germ is killed quickly in a well-ventilated room (direct sunlight will also kill the germs); and
lAll children should be immunised for TB at birth.
Patients who are tested positive are put on treatment (anti-TB drugs) for six months. Patients will take three to four tablets everyday for six months until they are cured.
This is an emergency and all are called to respond to it.
Government must not let NGOs carry the burden and carry its share of the load by allocating sufficient resources.