India goes ‘house-to-house’ to find missing TB cases, numbers alarming
The government recently launched an intense house-to-house search to find out unreported TB cases across 18 states. The search, which took place between Januray 15 and 31 has screened about 34 lakh people. It’s been reported that at least 26,000 people among them have been identified with TB symptoms. 1,800 cases have been confirmed till date whereas the sputum from the others is under analysis.
It’s estimated that almost a million TB cases remain “missing” every year in India due to lack of diagnosis or treatment.
The areas targeted for the search were mostly urban slums and places where vulnerable people like cotton mill workers and refugees stayed. The first phase of the search covered 50 districts in Haryana, Rajastan, Kerala, Delhi and Chennai, among other states. The second and third phases of the search would take place in July and December when another 100 districts will be covered.
A recent study by TB experts in the country, which appeared in PLOS Medicine mentioned how India has the world’s biggest TB epidemic- 23 percent of TB patients in the world and a 27 percent of the so called ‘missing’ patients. It’s estimated that there are about a million patients who haven’t been notified under the TB control programme. Globally, the target is set at 2025 to end TB but here in India, the target is even more ambitious- 2025. An action plan has been created to this end by the Central TB Division, following which the focus is to find new TB cases so that these could be treated.
About 4.8 lakh people died of TB in India last year. It’s estimated that 1.30 lakh people have multi-drug resistant TB.
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