World TB Day 2021: The Clock is Ticking!

What is the need?

TB remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious killers. 

Each day, nearly 4000 lose their lives to TB and close to 28,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease. 

Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 63 million lives since the year 2000.

India accounts for one-fourth of the global TB burden. In 2015, an estimated 28 lakh cases occurred and 4.8 lakh people died due to TB.  

When is it celebrated?

World Tuberculosis (TB) Day is celebrated every year on March 24 to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. 

The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease. 

This year the theme of World TB Day 2021 - ‘The Clock is Ticking’ –conveys the sense that the world is running out of time to act on the commitments to end TB made by global leaders. 

This is especially critical in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that has put End TB progress at risk, and to ensure equitable access to prevention and care in line with WHO’s drive towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.

What is TB (Tuberculosis)?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable disease caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that most often affect the lungs but can also affect other sites (extrapulmonary TB). Tuberculosis is curable and preventable.

How does it spread?

It spreads from person to person through the air, when people who are infected with TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air. It is a disease that can be cured with proper treatment.

What are the symptoms?

Tuberculosis most commonly affects the lungs. Common symptoms of active lung TB   are:

• A persistent cough of more than two weeks that brings up phlegm and blood at times
• Breathlessness, which is usually mild, to begin with, and gradually gets worse
• Lack of appetite and weight loss
• A high temperature of 38ºC (100.4ºF) or above
• Extreme tiredness or fatigue
• Night sweats
• Chest pains
•  Less commonly TB infection  can occur in other organs of the body, as  :

Lymph nodes, bones and joints, digestive system, nervous system, bladder, and reproductive system. This is known as extrapulmonary TB. 

Symptoms of extrapulmonary TB vary according to organ/system affected. Extrapulmonary TB is more common in people with a weakened immune system, such as those with HIV.

What are the preventive measures?

The various infection control measures are:

• Early diagnosis, and proper management of TB patients.
• Health education about cough etiquettes and proper disposal of sputum by the patient. 
• Cough etiquette means covering the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing. This can be done with a tissue, or if the person doesn’t have a tissue they can cough or sneeze into their upper sleeve or elbow, but they should not cough or sneeze into their hands. The tissue should then be safely disposed of.
• Houses should be adequately ventilated.
• Proper use of air-borne infection control measures in health care facilities and other settings.
• Contact tracing for search of any active TB case.
• Preventive therapy is recommended to Children < 6 years of age, who are close contacts of a TB patient.
• BCG vaccination- It is provided at birth or as early as possible till one year of age.
• Addressing social determinants of TB like poverty, malnutrition, urbanization, indoor air pollution, etc

The clock is ticking! A World TB Day campaign for action!

On World TB Day, WHO calls on everyone to keep the promise to:

Accelerate the End TB Response to reach the targets.

Diagnose and treat 40 million people with TB by 2022 including 3.5 million children and 1.5 million people with drug-resistant TB. 

This is in line with WHO’s an overall drive towards Universal Health Coverage and the WHO Director General’s flagship initiative “Find. Treat. All. #EndTB” jointly with the Global Fund and Stop TB Partnership.

References:

1. https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-tb-day/world-tb-day-2021#:~:text=The%20theme%20of%20World%20TB,TB%20made%20by%20global%20leaders.
2. https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-tb-day
3. https://nhp.org.in/en/health-programmes/2353-world-tb-day
4. https://www.cdc.gov/tb/worldtbday/default.htm
5. https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-tb-day
6. https://www.tballiance.org/world-tb-day-2021
7. https://www.nhp.gov.in/disease/respiratory/lungs/tuberculosis
8. https://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/events/events/2021/03/world-tb-day-2021-the-clock-is-ticking,-its-time-to-end-tb