Truenat, a molecular test to diagnose pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB and rifampicin-resistant TB, has high diagnostic accuracy, says WHO. Truenat was developed in India. It can be used as an initial and point-of-care tool for diagnosing TB at primary, community health centres. In a Rapid Communication published on January 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) … Continue reading TB diagnostic test developed in India has high diagnostic accuracy, says WHO
RNTCP
Tweaked pharmacy referral model increases TB case-finding in Patna
Tweaking the existing pharmacy referral system in Patna brought huge benefits. Instead of referring symptomatic TB patients to doctor for consultation, referring them for an X-ray before consulting a doctor increased the referral rate by 62 times and increased TB diagnosis 25 times. By slightly changing the way private pharmacies help people with symptomatic TB … Continue reading Tweaked pharmacy referral model increases TB case-finding in Patna
A glimmer of hope as India’s war on TB gets more funding
There is a glimmer of hope with India registering a slight drop in the number of new tuberculosis cases and TB deaths in 2016 compared with 2015. From an estimated 2.84 million new cases in 2015, the number dropped marginally to 2.79 million in 2016, according to the World Health Organisation’s Global tuberculosis report, 2017. … Continue reading A glimmer of hope as India’s war on TB gets more funding
A looming threat of tuberculosis in children
The RNTCP guidelines on contact screening are heeded mostly in the breach. About 5,500 of over 76,000 children tested in nine Indian cities have been diagnosed with tuberculosis, 9% of them with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), highlighting the silent spread of the disease. Though the actual prevalence of MDR-TB among children in India is not known, … Continue reading A looming threat of tuberculosis in children
Breaking the drug-resistant TB transmission cycle important
Nearly two months after the Health Ministry set a highly ambitious target of working towards elimination of tuberculosis by 2025, a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases indicates that India’s TB crisis is all set to snowball by 2040 when one in 10 cases could be drug-resistant. What is even more alarming is that the increased … Continue reading Breaking the drug-resistant TB transmission cycle important
Without a magic wand, India cannot eliminate TB by 2025
At the end of 50 years of tuberculosis control activities, the disease remains a major health challenge in India. As per new estimates, the number of new cases every year has risen to 2.8 million and mortality is put at 4,80,000 each year. These figures may go up when the national TB prevalence survey is … Continue reading Without a magic wand, India cannot eliminate TB by 2025
About 0.5 million TB patients approaching RNTCP centres are not treated
In 2013, India had about 2.7 million people with TB, which is 23 per cent of the global burden of TB. India also accounted for 27 per cent (760,000) of the world’s “missing” patients — those may not have received effective TB care or may have received potentially suboptimal TB care in India’s private sector. … Continue reading About 0.5 million TB patients approaching RNTCP centres are not treated
Pharmacies in India may not be causing TB drug-resistance
If an earlier study revealed the tendency of private practitioners to liberally use antibiotics to treat tuberculosis leading to a delay in TB diagnosis and treatment and increase the chances of TB spreading within a community, pharmacies in Delhi, Mumbai and Patna are no better. A study published on August 25, 2016 in the journal … Continue reading Pharmacies in India may not be causing TB drug-resistance
Indian private sector bears 2-3 times higher TB burden than estimated
A study has found that in 2014 there were 2.2 million TB patients treated in India’s private sector alone. This is 2-3 times higher than current estimates. In all probability, the higher TB burden in the private sector might still be an underestimation as drug-resistant TB cases were not taken into account. Thus, the private … Continue reading Indian private sector bears 2-3 times higher TB burden than estimated
TB: DOTS therapy offered by RNTCP should be more flexible
If there is already a long delay before TB patients in India start treatment, the Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) strategy offered by India’s TB control programme does not make it easy for patients to access and complete the treatment. In contrast, patients who took DOTS from private practitioners faced fewer barriers and were more … Continue reading TB: DOTS therapy offered by RNTCP should be more flexible
Science Chronicle 