Drug resistant TB killed 20 in 2015

KOZHIKODE: Around 20 patients who contracted Multi Drug Resistant TB among the total of 110, died in Kozhikode alone in 2015, according to the data of the District TB cell. Adding to the worry of medical experts, MDR TB, a much more hazardous and hard to cure form of TB, has been spreading in the state and has killed more than 230 persons during the last five years, according to statistics available with the state TB cell, Thiruvananthapuram.

The disease, with very little effective medication available for cure, is more significant as it has been playing a key role in spreading the disease, it was pointed out. More than thousand patients have been diagnosed with MDR TB in the state till 2015.

The common TB gets upgraded to drug resistant TB if the patients fail to follow the treatment procedure prescribed by doctors, it was pointed out. The cure rate of the common TB is around 85 to 90 percent whereas that of MDR TB is 65 percent. The treatment procedure of MDR TB also is spread over two years.

Kozhikode district TB officer Dr Pramod Kumar PP told DC that in the last year as many as 1,697 persons were screened as suspected cases of common TB of which 700 persons were confirmed.

Adding to the worries of health experts, many TB outbreak cases were tracked to migrant settlements of the district. A majority of migrants come from states with high density TB patients, said Mr Kumar, adding that it was tough to treat them as they switched spots before the completion of the month-long treatment course.

It is to be recalled that for better surveillance of TB, the union health ministry introduced ‘Directly observed treatment, short course’ (DOTS) in 2006 which proved more efficacious.