05 September 2022 – The Hindu

Tuberculosis

Information on tuberculosis:

• The disease known as TB affects the lungs.
• Bacteria are what cause tuberculosis in the lungs, where it is most common (Mycobacterium tuberculosis).
• Since anti-TB drugs have been in use for a time, strains that are resistant to one or more of them have been discovered in every nation studied.
• Germs that are resistant to the two most potent first-line anti-TB medications, isoniazid and rifampicin, cause MDR-TB, a kind of tuberculosis.
• MDR-TB can be treated and wiped out with second-line drugs.
• Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), a more deadly form of MDR-TB, is brought on by bacteria that are resistant to the most effective second-line anti-TB medications, leaving patients with few further treatment alternatives.

The following are just a few of the many causes of tuberculosis:

• Through the air, people can spread tuberculosis to one another.
• When TB patients cough, sneeze, or spit, the bacteria are released into the air.
• TB is an airborne illness that can be contracted by coming into close contact with an infected individual.
• One of the most common causes of tuberculosis is Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
• Young children and the elderly have a higher risk of contracting TB.
• People who already have a weakened immune system, such as those with HIV or diabetes, are more vulnerable to this infectious disease.

Tuberculosis diagnosis:

• Other tests are available besides physical examinations to check for the presence of harmful microbes.
• These examinations may involve skin tests, blood and sputum tests, chest X-rays, and other procedures.
• Blood Test: In this procedure, blood samples are collected and examined in labs to see if the blood cells contain the tuberculosis bacterium.
• The most common kind of test is a skin test. A tiny quantity of tuberculin, a pure protein, is injected beneath the patient’s skin during this treatment.
• If the skin around the injection site thickens by more than five centimetres, there is a TB infection present.
• The Mantoux tuberculin skin test is the name of this examination (TST).

TB Symptoms and Signs:

• The Mycobacterium tuberculosis bug, generally known as TB, is typically found in the lungs and can cause serious symptoms like:
• exhaling blood
• Weakness and weary
• Sweating at night
• Uncomfortable chest

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis bug, generally known as TB, is typically found in the lungs and can cause serious symptoms like:

• Decreased weight gain
• Decreasing appetite
• The sudden appearance of chills
• Chills & Fevers

In order to treat tuberculosis:

• Tuberculosis can be managed and cured.
• The patient receives a typical six-month course of four antimicrobial medications together with guidance, supervision, and help from a certified professional or volunteer.
• One of the greatest ways to treat this viral illness is with medicine.
• Doctors usually prescribe the antibiotic isoniazid to patients with latent tuberculosis infections to stop the disease from becoming active.
• If neglected, active TB diseases can be fatal.
• Ethambutol, INH, priftin, and pyrazinamide must be taken for three months as part of the procedure, followed by 12 months of INH and pyrazinamide.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis:

• Many individuals are concerned about Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which develops in the host body due to a shortage of treatment drugs and is not fully eradicated from the body due to an interruption in antibiotic therapy.
• Second-line anti-TB medicines are used to treat the host since the germs are resistant to first-line anti-TB medications.
• Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), which is difficult to treat, develops in the host body as a result of a high concentration of TB in one location.
• The XDR-TB bacteria strain is resistant to one or two second-line drugs.
• Total drug resistance tuberculosis, also known as total drug resistance tuberculosis, is a condition that could develop if this situation is not handled well (TB).
• India has the highest rate of tuberculosis, with over 2 million cases reported in 2018.
• The Indian government encourages the development of novel instruments while rejecting those that would not advance TB research and development (R&D).
• To meet the nation’s goals for TB eradication, the Indian government intends to develop programmes in cooperation with the Ministries of Science and Technology, Health, and other research-oriented pharmaceutical firms.
• To reduce delays in tuberculosis diagnosis, case-finding efforts have been taken into consideration.

The following actions are taken by the government to combat tuberculosis:

• The Indian government hopes to end all TB cases by 2025.
• The National Strategic Plan (NSP) for TB Elimination was formed in 2017 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in order to commit to this goal.
• The National Health Mission’s district health action plans (DHAP), state project implementation plans (PIPs), and national PIP will all be created under the National Strategic Plan (NHM).

TB: The National Strategic Plan for Elimination:

• All parties involved in the effort to eradicate tuberculosis in India, including the national and state governments, development partners, civil society organisations, international organisations, research institutions, the private sector, and others, will adhere to this framework in all of their endeavours.

The following four DTPB strategic pillars serve as the foundation for this initiative:

• VISION: A disease-, poverty-, and death-free India where tuberculosis has been eradicated.
• OBJECTIVE: To work toward TB elimination in India by 2025 while reducing the disease’s impact on morbidity and mortality.
• The NSP for TB Elimination’s four PILLARS are: Detect, Treat, Prevent, and Build (DTPB).

The National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination has the following features:

• By 2020, all tuberculosis sufferers will have been located, and by 2025, the disease will have completely disappeared.
• Bedaqualine, an anti-TB drug, has been approved by the Conditional Access Program (CAP).
• It was suggested that the public sector create a first-line anti-TB medicine as part of the Make in India initiative.
• The establishment of a TB corpus fund under the management of the India TB Control Foundation, also known as Bharat Kshay Niyantran Pratishthan, is one of the objectives of the NSP (BKNP).
• It aims to create synergy by shifting from a regulatory to a partnership-based strategy to simplifying services in the largely chaotic and unregulated private sector.
• Technology adoption may be seen in the development of E-Nikshay, a user-friendly online platform that enables professionals to record cases as soon as they come across an infected patient.
• It is crucial to inform the people about tuberculosis and how to prevent it. As part of this programme, media efforts to assist TB prevention are being planned. The World Health Organization’s Swasth E- Gurukul is one such programme.

The NIKSHAY PLAN:

• The NIKSHAY system is helping the country reach practically full patient notification online.
• Nikshay is a comprehensive platform for managing patient data and tracking programme activity and effectiveness across the country.
• The WHO Country Office for India, the National Informatics Centre, and the Central TB Division (CTD) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare worked together to develop and maintain it.

Additional government initiatives to combat tuberculosis include:

• A national tuberculosis information system called Nikshay Ecosystem offers a single point of contact for managing patient data and keeping track of programme activities and results across the country.
• that is the Nikshay Poshan Yojana The NYP plan was created to give TB sufferers financial assistance so they could improve their nutrition.
• In September 2019, the TB Harega Desh Jeetega campaign was launched with the goal of completely eliminating tuberculosis.
• The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) launched the Saksham Project to offer psychological therapy to tuberculosis patients who were drug-resistant.

The 2020 India Annual Tuberculosis Report:

• In India, there were 20.04 lakh officially documented cases of TB in 2019, an increase of 14% from 2018.
• dropped from almost 10 lakh incidents of missing people in 2017 to 2.9 lakh cases in 2018.
• A 35 percent increase in new cases of tuberculosis (6.78 lakh) were reported in the private sector.
• In 2019, 8% of youngsters were diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), up from 6% in 2018.
• All tuberculosis patients who had been informed had HIV testing at a rate of 81 percent in 2019, up from 67 percent in 2018.
• The expansion of therapy alternatives has increased the success rate of treatment for informed patients by 12%.
• It is 81 percent in 2019 as opposed to 69 percent in 2018.