©tessa
______________________________________________
Fight TB for Free
______________________________________________
If one of your members in the family is at risk of tuberculosis, how can you help fight the disease?
Tuberculosis, better known as TB, is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In the Philippibes, 75 Filipinos die of TB every day. TB is a contagious disease caused by a slow-growing bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although the bacteria can attack other parts of the body, such as the brain, kidneys, bones, and spine, these bacteria usually attack the lungs.
Tuberculosis has two types—TB infection and active TB. A person with TB infection isn’t able to spread the disease despite the bacteria are present. The bacteria don’t make the person sick. And the disease isn’t contagious. On the other hand, a person with active TB may be able to spread the disease. The bacteria present on the person’s body cause the symptoms.
Globally, there is a high incidence of tuberculosis. One-third of the world’s population has tuberculosis. A person with active TB, if left untreated, can infect 10−15 people on the average every year. Moreover, those individuals infected with TB bacilli wouldn’t inevitably get sick because the immune system could aid fight the disease. But if the individual’s immune system becomes weak, there is a greater risk of having the disease.
Did you know that every second someone is newly infected with TB?
Know the Symptoms of Tuberculosis
The symptoms of tuberculosis depend on where the bacteria in the body are growing. These are the common symptoms of tuberculosis in the lungs.
- Bad cough for three weeks or more
- Cough with blood (hemoptysis) or sputum
- Chest pain
- Weight loss
- Appetite loss
- Fatigue or weakness
- Fever and chills
- Sweating at night
How TB Can Be Passed
Tuberculosis is like a common cold. It can be passed from one person to another. It spreads through the air. If a person infected with TB talks, coughs, sneezes, or spits, they spread the bacteria into the air.
Did you know that you only need to inhale a small number of these bacteria to get infected with TB? People who have TB in their lungs are infectious.
When Should You Get Tested for TB
There are reasons why you should get tested for tuberculosis:
- if you spent time with a person with TB or suspected for TB;
- if you are infected with HIV or have other conditions which can be a risk for developing TB;
- if you experience the symptoms of TB;
- if you live in a place where TB is very common; or
- if you inject illegal drugs.
If you think you may have been through these situations, it’s better to consult your doctor at once.
How to Treat a Family Member with TB
Is tuberculosis curable?
Yes, indeed! Tuberculosis is curable. It can be treated by having proper medications, adequate nutrition and rest, and clean environment.
How can you help a family member with TB?
According to a pulmonary doctor, support and commitment are the keystones to treat tuberculosis in one’s family.
Everyone in the family should show his or her support to a family member with TB. Each family member should supervise or encourage the patient to eat proper diet and take his or her medications every day for six months. Supervising or encouraging the patient to take his or her medications properly is a modified DOTS (directly observed treatment short-course).
| What DOTS Is
Directly observed treatment short-course, also known as DOTS, is the most successful and cost- effective treatment strategy for TB. DOTS has the following objectives:
- To decrease the risk of infection
- To reduce morbidity
- To decrease the transmission of infection
- To prevent death
In DOTS, the medication intake of patients with TB is directly observed for six to eight months to ensure that the medication is taken in the proper dosage and right combination to prevent the development of multidrug resistant TB.
The strategy of DOTS is focused on the following: to detect approximately 70% of new smear-positive TB cases and to cure approximately 85% of these cases. Through DOTS, approximately 80% TB-related deaths would be prevented. The DOTS program complies with the World Health Organization standards.
DOTS has five components:
- Political or management commitment
- TB diagnosis through sputum microscopy; X-ray is only a secondary diagnostic tool
- Availability of complete and quality anti-TB medications
- Supervised treatment (if the patient takes the anti-TB medications every day)
- Recording and reporting of cases and outcomes
How a patient with TB can avail DOTS?
In the country, DOTS is available in the rural and city health units, city health centers, and government hospitals. There are also private facilities that offer DOTS to their patients. Aside from social and medical welfare services that DOTS offer, it also offers free TB medication.
In the country also, DOTS has been partnered with the following institutions:
- Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP)
- Philippine Tuberculosis Initiatives for the Private Sector
- Philippine Department of Health and the municipal and rural health units
- Kasilak Foundation
- Mahintana Foundation, Inc.
|
What other things should each family member do for the patient?
A family member with TB shouldn’t be ostracized. He or she should be given equal treatment. Don’t make him or her feel that he or she is being deprived of attention and care, just because the disease is contagious.
Could the other family members share eating utensils with the patient?
It’s a big NO that you share eating utensils with the patient. The patient has to have a personal set of eating utensils—through out the course of treatment—to avoid spread of the disease.
| How to Evaluate a Person If He or She Has TB
The tests for TB include the following:
- Physical examination – This provides helpful information about the overall condition of the patient.
- Mantoux tuberculin skin test or the special TB blood test – This is used to test a patient for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.
- Chest X-ray – This is used to detect chest abnormalities. These chest abnormalities may suggest the presence of TB, but this cannot be used to diagnose TB perfectly. This test, however, can help rule out the possibility of having a pulmonary TB.
- AFB (acid-fast-bacilli) smears and cultures – This test is used to know the presence of TB if acid-fast-bacilli are present on a sputum smear.
You can seek advice from physicians or medical experts for other TB tests. |
The Facts and Myths about TB
Let’s debunk the classic myths about TB.
Is TB hereditary?
Well, it’s not. TB is not hereditary. As mentioned previously, it’s a disease transmitted from one person to another through the air while the person with TB coughs, talks, sneezes, or spits.
Can I get infected with TB immediately if someone with TB coughs?
Is TB infection the same as TB disease?
TB infection is different from TB disease. As mentioned earlier, there are two types of tuberculosis, namely, TB infection and TB disease or active TB. Go back to the first part of this article to see their differences.
Does TB infection always develop into active TB?
NO. Those people who have weak immune systems, such as the very young ones and the very old ones, and people with HIV infection and cancer are prone to develop active TB once they get infected.
Long-term Goal to Treat TB
Proper patient education on the disease is very important in the treatment of TB. This includes educating the patient on proper nutrition and medication. Moreover, family support and commitment are exceptionally important in helping a family member with TB.
www.ejournals.ph