Pinky Akter : There was a time, when tuberculosis was a deadly disease and everyone was scared just hearing “tuberculosis” or “TB”. TB is curable and preventable now but it is very important to diagnose the disease at the right time. Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). It is best to diagnose the presence of this bacteria early so that appropriate measures can be taken.

TB is one of the world’s leading causes of death from an infectious agent and death from infectious disease for women of reproductive age, globally. Bangladesh is a high TB burden country and in 2021 alone, about 375,000 individuals were infected with TB, and 42,000 died. This means that every twelve minutes, one person in Bangladesh is dying from TB. An approximate 37,500 among these 375,000 individuals are children infected by TB.

If not diagnosed and treated at the right time, infection may progress to disease and cause complications leading to death. Moreover, the untreated/undiagnosed individual with TB transmits the infection to those around them and increase incidence rate. In this regard, experts stress on increasing awareness campaigns.

While TB can affect any organ of the body except for nails and hair, over 80% of all cases of TB occur in the lungs, which is known as pulmonary TB. PTB is highly contagious and TB bacteria spreads through the air from one person to another. When a pulmonary TB infected person coughs, speaks, or sneezes, the TB bacteria can get into the air. People nearby breathe in these bacteria and become infected. On the upside, within a month of starting treatment for tuberculosis, the risk of transmission of the bacteria decreases, which is why early diagnosis is very important.

Aligned with the World Health Organization’s goal, the National Tuberculosis Control Programme (NTP), along with partners, works relentlessly towards their ultimate goal of ending TB from Bangladesh by 2035. Over the years, under the leadership of NTP, Bangladesh has achieved some remarkable strides in controlling TB and helped save approximately 2.3 million lives between 2012 and 2021. Deaths from TB have reduced from 45 deaths per 100,000 in 2015 to 25 in 2021. Additionally, services for drug-resistant TB have been decentralized, which increases access to those services. A major shift in TB treatment in Bangladesh from long-duration, painful, injectable drug-resistant TB regimens to the newer, shorter all oral drug-resistant TB regimens. Despite these achievements, TB remains a major public health concern in the country. On that note, Dr. Mahafuzer Rahman Sarker, Line Director, TB-L and ASP, DGHS, lamented on the consistently high incidence of TB in the country and added that due to congested living and working conditions, and increased air pollution, the risk of being affected by TB is also increasing. He stressed on the importance of early diagnosis, notification and initiation of appropriate treatment, access to TB care services, and ensuring TB preventive measures for successful disease control.

Due to lack of financial capability and stigma associated with the disease, many people, especially those from low-socioeconomic background, tend to hide their symptoms or disease. This leads to further increased transmission within their communities. Despite NTP’s efforts, awareness about TB is very low among the mass.

When someone notices any of the symptoms of TB (cough for more than 2 weeks, fever, weight loss, etc.), they must visit the nearest doctor for TB diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, it is pertinent for the NTP to address these gaps and ensure early diagnosis of tuberculosis and take support from other sectors to win their fight against this deadly disease.