All the Days of March, Part 7

A month-long of dealing with public health concerns

This is the final installment of articles about health concerns in the month of March. The World Health Organization, the United States Center for Disease Control, and other health organizations throughout the world celebrated World Tuberculosis Day (World TB Day) last March 24. This year’s observance, like in the past years, aims to raise awareness about the global TB epidemic and to accelerate global efforts for and towards its elimination. World TB Day 2019’s theme was “it’s Time.”

Why do we celebrate World TB Day?

TB still continues to be one of the world’s top 10 killer diseases.

When and where was the first World TB Day celebrated?

The World Health Organization and the Royal Netherlands Tuberculosis Foundation at Den Haag, Netherlands, hosted the first “World Tuberculosis Day” in 1995.

The Global Killer

Dr. Robert Koch first discovered tuberculosis in 1882. TB is caused by the bacteria –“Mycobacterium Tuberculosis.” The infection generally affects the lungs. In most times, the infection can have no symptoms or the lack of it. This state is known as “Latent tuberculosis.” Some people with latent TB infection are more likely to develop TB disease than others. TB disease, if left untreated can spread to other organs. Tuberculosis can also mimic other diseases. In the Philippines, TB is among the top 5 leading causes of morbidity and mortality.

How is it diagnosed?

TB is entertained as a diagnosis if you have chronic cough, fever, night sweats, weight loss, fatigue, difficulty in breathing, or coughing up of blood. A presumptive diagnosis of TB is established through a positive acid fast bacilli smear in sputum examination. Sputum culture for acid fast bacilli is a more accurate sputum examination for TB. Chest radiography (x-ray) can reveal infiltrates, nodules, and lesions in the lungs, pointing to TB disease unless proven otherwise. TB skin test is another way of entertaining the presence of TB bacteria in a person.

Prophylaxis for TB

Chemoprophylaxis for Latent TB should only be given after the presence of TB disease is totally ruled out. INH 300 mg tablet to taken orally on a daily basis for a period of 9 months is given to those with latent TB, regardless of age.