7,000 found to be unaware of their TB status

LUCKNOW: Around 7,000 people in the state were found to be unaware of the fact that they were suffering from tuberculosis, a communicable disease that might have spread to others.

The TB screening drive, that began in state from June 11 and continued till 29 covering about 10% of the state’s population, brought out about 7,000 undiagnosed TB cases.

“It was first of several such phases planned in the state and it has already indicated the importance of such drives,” said Dr Santosh Gupta, state tuberculosis officer. He said that the aim of such an exercise was to reach maximum patients who were yet to come to the health facility.

Training of medical staff was conducted before the drive where they were told how to identify cases on the basis of symptoms such as two week old coughing, blood in sputum or prolonged chest pain. Each team, that went to

field for ten days, covered 50 families. In Lucknow, 750 staff moved as different teams to cover the district.

“Our targets were families in vulnerable areas or families doing vulnerable work or living in areas where TB cases can be found. The aim is to identify more such cases so that they can be treated on time. The tuberculosis treatment is provided by the government,” said Dr Santosh.

“Remaining unaware about a disease is risky as it can aggravate and even spread to others,” said Dr Sandeep Kapoor, director Healthcity Hospital and a public health expert.

The TB awareness vans that were sent by the central government also moved in different places in the state to identify new patients. TB is a serious infectious disease that mainly affects lungs but can also affect bones, brain or other parts of the body.