In News:

• Involving the community has helped devise strategies to break psychological barriers in the battle against Tuberculosis (TB) in Assam and three other States, an initiative by a Karnataka-based trust has revealed.
• The Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) has been running a USAID-supported project on TB across four States — Assam, Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana.

What’s in today’s article:

• About TB (Description, Symptoms, Types, Treatment, TB in India, etc.)
• News Summary (About KHPT’s study) 

About Tuberculosis (TB):

• Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection that spreads through inhaling tiny droplets from the coughs or sneezes of an infected person.
• It mainly affects the lungs, but it can affect any part of the body, including the tummy (abdomen), glands, bones and nervous system.
• TB is a potentially serious condition, but it can be cured if it's treated with the right antibiotics.

Symptoms of TB:

• Persistent cough that lasts more than 3 weeks and usually brings up phlegm, which may be bloody,
• Weight loss,
• Night sweats,
• High temperature,
• Tiredness and fatigue,
• Loss of appetite,
• Swellings in the neck.

Types of TB:

• Pulmonary TB:
  • TB that affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) is the most contagious type, but it usually only spreads after prolonged exposure to someone with the illness.
  • In most healthy people, the body's natural defence against infection and illness (the immune system) kills the bacteria and there are no symptoms.
• Latent TB:
  • Sometimes the immune system cannot kill the bacteria, but manages to prevent it spreading in the body.
  • You will not have any symptoms, but the bacteria will remain in your body. This is known as latent TB.
  • People with latent TB are not infectious to others.
• Active TB:
  • If the immune system fails to kill or contain the infection, it can spread within the lungs or other parts of the body and symptoms will develop within a few weeks or months. This is known as active TB.
    • About one-quarter of the world’s population is estimated to be infected by TB bacteria but out of these only 5-15% of people will fall ill with active TB disease.
  • Latent TB could develop into an active TB disease at a later date, particularly if your immune system becomes weakened.

Treatment:

• With treatment, TB can almost always be cured.
  • A course of antibiotics will usually need to be taken for 6 months.
• Several different antibiotics are used because some forms of TB are resistant to certain antibiotics.

Tuberculosis in India:

• The total number of incident TB patients (new and relapse) notified during 2021 in India were 19.33 lakh as opposed to that of 16.28 lakh in 2020.
• India continues to have the largest share of the global TB burden.
• India’s National TB Elimination Programme is strengthened to meet the goal of ending the TB epidemic by 2025 from the country, five years ahead of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for 2030.
• The National Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Elimination (2017-2025) was developed to achieve the goal.

News Summary:

• The Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) has been running a USAID-supported project on TB across four States — Assam, Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana.
  • The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a U.S. federal government agency, responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance.
• The project studies the most vulnerable groups, such as mining and industrial workers, tea garden workers, migrants, the urban vulnerable, and tribal people.
• Recently, findings of the project were published by the trust.

Major Findings w.r.t. Assam:

• In Assam, the project covered tea plantation workers in Dibrugarh, the tribal population in Baksa, and the urban vulnerable in Kamrup (Metro) district.
• The project focused on creating an environment of encouragement for the TB patient and caregivers by involving TB survivors who have experienced these problems and who extend support and take them through this journey.
• The study found that involving the community has helped devise strategies to break psychological barriers in the battle against Tuberculosis (TB) in Assam.
  • A total of 625 TB patients and caregivers benefited from 99 care and support group meetings involving 315 community structures.
• The project clearly shows how community structures have contributed to TB response in the three districts, and their initiative has contributed to 72,168 [individuals] being screened.