Post by celebi on Mar 26, 2012 19:33:36 GMT -5
It is known fact that recently there is rampant spread of drug-resistant TB in India.
In January, Indian doctors reported the country's first cases that appeared to be "totally drug resistant," a long-feared and virtually untreatable form of the killer lung disease.
The Indian hospital that saw the initial cases tested a dozen medicines and none of them worked. However, the Indian government later questioned the findings, saying the World Health Organization has not defined the term "totally drug-resistant" tuberculosis.
If a tuberculosis case is found to be resistant to the two most powerful drugs, the patient is classified as having multi-drug-resistant TB. An even worse classification of TB — one the WHO accepts — is extensively drug-resistant TB, a form of the disease that was first reported in 2006 and is virtually resistant to all drugs.
An estimated 20 percent of the world's multi-drug-resistant cases are found in India, which is home to a quarter of all types of tuberculosis cases worldwide.
Source: Associated Press
There was an article in Hindu about checking TB among children.
Watch out for TB in children
Spread
Caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the disease spreads from person to person through saliva, or when a person with the infection coughs or sneezes.
“It is most important to get children in the house diagnosed when an adult is diagnosed with TB. Any child living with a TB patient and who has an unexplained fever should be evaluated,” he explains.
Difficult to diagnose
According to Dr. Buggi, TB is difficult to diagnose in children and is often mistaken for pneumonia.
H. Paramesh, paediatric pulmonologist and director of Lakeside Hospital, says parents should not ignore persistent cough or cold that lasts for more than two weeks. “Unexplained low-grade fever that lasts for more than a week and loss of appetite and weight in the child are strong indications of childhood TB,” he says.
Unlike in adults where a sputum test would help in diagnosing the disease, a TB skin test and chest X-ray are important in detecting the disease in children, he adds.
At risk
Sumant Mantri, consultant pulmonologist in Apollo Hospital says children have an increased risk of getting infected with TB when they come in contact with parents or elders with active TB at home or at school.
“Parents and other residents of the house who smoke must quit tobacco use as second-hand tobacco smoke puts their children at risk of TB,” he says.
Proper cross-ventilation at home and school, respiratory etiquette, keeping the curtains and upholstery clean, and making washing hands a must both before and after meals are some preventive measures that must be followed, he adds.
In January, Indian doctors reported the country's first cases that appeared to be "totally drug resistant," a long-feared and virtually untreatable form of the killer lung disease.
The Indian hospital that saw the initial cases tested a dozen medicines and none of them worked. However, the Indian government later questioned the findings, saying the World Health Organization has not defined the term "totally drug-resistant" tuberculosis.
If a tuberculosis case is found to be resistant to the two most powerful drugs, the patient is classified as having multi-drug-resistant TB. An even worse classification of TB — one the WHO accepts — is extensively drug-resistant TB, a form of the disease that was first reported in 2006 and is virtually resistant to all drugs.
An estimated 20 percent of the world's multi-drug-resistant cases are found in India, which is home to a quarter of all types of tuberculosis cases worldwide.
Source: Associated Press
There was an article in Hindu about checking TB among children.
Watch out for TB in children
Spread
Caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the disease spreads from person to person through saliva, or when a person with the infection coughs or sneezes.
“It is most important to get children in the house diagnosed when an adult is diagnosed with TB. Any child living with a TB patient and who has an unexplained fever should be evaluated,” he explains.
Difficult to diagnose
According to Dr. Buggi, TB is difficult to diagnose in children and is often mistaken for pneumonia.
H. Paramesh, paediatric pulmonologist and director of Lakeside Hospital, says parents should not ignore persistent cough or cold that lasts for more than two weeks. “Unexplained low-grade fever that lasts for more than a week and loss of appetite and weight in the child are strong indications of childhood TB,” he says.
Unlike in adults where a sputum test would help in diagnosing the disease, a TB skin test and chest X-ray are important in detecting the disease in children, he adds.
At risk
Sumant Mantri, consultant pulmonologist in Apollo Hospital says children have an increased risk of getting infected with TB when they come in contact with parents or elders with active TB at home or at school.
“Parents and other residents of the house who smoke must quit tobacco use as second-hand tobacco smoke puts their children at risk of TB,” he says.
Proper cross-ventilation at home and school, respiratory etiquette, keeping the curtains and upholstery clean, and making washing hands a must both before and after meals are some preventive measures that must be followed, he adds.